Recap
What common, daily activity did you do to bring God pleasure or happiness over the past week?
Main Thought
People long to belong. God designed us to need others physically and spiritually. Yet we’ll eventually find that our desires for belonging are unfulfilled on some level. We may build bad bridges in our desperation to belong, or put up walls to insulate ourselves from pain. God’s perfect love is the solution to both of these problems. We were born to belong to Him! If we belong to God’s Family, then the family benefits (like access to God, purpose, and eternal life) belong to us. God’s family, the Church, gives us a perfect opportunity to learn how to love. Choosing to love others, in spite of their flaws, teaches us to love like Jesus and causes us to appreciate His love even more.
Main Passages
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?
- Ecclesiastes 4:9-101 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
- 1 John 3:116 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
- 1 John 3:16
Discussion Questions
Has God’s love ever helped you heal from relational wounds? How?
Have you ever shared God’s love with someone who offended you? What happened?
Application
Connect with someone in God’s Family this week, and help them feel like they belong.