Rockhills Church was birthed 10 years ago. We celebrated this milestone with baptisms, a lunch after service, as well as a service project. These are all things that are part of our DNA.
The mission statement of Rockhills is: Love God, Love Others. Helping people find and follow Jesus. Part of loving God and loving others involves realizing and appropriating the truth of how deeply loved YOU are by God. It is difficult to give away love if you don’t know – at the depths of your soul – that you are loved.
This week’s study will dive into the truth of the unconditional love of God for you and for me. Sometimes we only know God’s love for us at a head level but not at the heart level. However, truly transformational knowledge is always personal, never merely objective. It involves knowing of, not merely knowing about. Many people truly believe God loves everyone, but in their heart of hearts they doubt that God could truly love them just as they are. Open your heart to receive the truth of God’s love for you this week.
INVITATION: Pray before you begin the study this week. Take time to slow down each day to be present to God. Let go of your worries, concerns and expectations, seeking to be fully open to the moving and invitations of God. As you spend time pondering the unconditional, perfect love God has for you, you might consider saying a prayer Jesus heard and answered throughout scripture: “I believe, help me in my unbelief.” The one of a kind love of God is hard, if not impossible to fully embrace, so give yourself time and grace this week. Living into the truth of how loved you are is truly life changing. You might even consider doing this week’s study a few weeks in a row.
MONDAY: Romans 5:6-8: What does this passage remind you of about the nature of God’s love for you? What does this tell you about the unconditional nature of God’s love for you? How do the truths of this passage make you feel about God and about how God loves you?
TUESDAY: I John 3:1-2: Author David Benner says “I am convinced that God loves each and every one of us with depth, persistence and intensity beyond imagination.” God’s love is hard to fully comprehend. In this passage, John uses the word translated lavished. God’s love has been lavished upon you. The word lavish can also mean “superabundance,” “generous,” “plentiful,” “over the top” and even “wasteful.” Spend some time and consider the magnitude of God’s love for you. Perhaps this is a good day to remember the prayer “I believe, help me in my unbelief.”
WEDNESDAY: Psalm 32:1-5: Spend time focusing on God’s forgiveness of you. How does this forgiveness make you feel toward God? Are you able to receive and internalize this forgiveness? Why or why not? We are taught in scripture that we, too, need to extend forgiveness to others. Is there someone you need to forgive this week? Could that unforgiveness be making you resistant to the forgiveness God is offering you? Forgiving is a matter of your will. You choose to forgive. The emotions don’t go away immediately. That is a process. Many people are resistant to forgiving because they believe it is the same as stating that what someone did to them was “okay” or “permissible.” That is God’s job. Your job is simply to forgive. Justice is God’s job (Romans 12:19). Can you trust God to enforce justice in the world and in your life and choose to forgive?
THURSDAY: Isaiah 43:1-7: Read this passage as if it was written to you. After all, the entire Bible is a love letter, written in blood, for YOU. What is God’s message to you in this passage? What feelings arise within you as you read through it and hear to what lengths God is willing to go in order to be your God? How does this make you feel toward God? Can you offer a prayer to God from this passage today?
FRIDAY: Romans 8:1: NO condemnation. Pause and let these words sink deep within you. What do these words mean to you? Are you able to believe them? Consider making a list of the things that tend to birth condemnation within you. Read through the list line by line, and after each entry, say out loud, “There is no condemnation for me in Christ.” Which of the entries on your list are the easiest or the hardest for you to internalize as the truth of there being “no condemnation” for you in Christ? Again, perhaps today is a good time to take the prayer “I believe, help me in my unbelief” with you into your day? Ask the Lord to help you deeply believe and live into the truth that you are not condemned.
SATURDAY: Romans 8:38-39: Take some time to prayerfully consider the things in your life that hinder your ability to fully embrace God’s unconditional love for you. Write these things down. When you are finished, re-read these Romans verses. Now, use these verses as a template and RE-WRITE the passage, substituting the things you wrote in place of the things Paul has enumerated in this verse. Ex: For I am convinced that neither {death} nor {life}. Death and life will be replaced with your words, etc. Does this help you personalize how loved you are? Why or why not?