FLOURISH AND THRIVE – Week 5 Devotions (with Scripture)

Monday, September 15, 2025 – Read Matthew 22:37-40 - 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Jesus sums up the entire Bible with two commands: Love God and love others! Relationships are central to God’s design for human flourishing and spiritual growth. Relationships are context in which faith is practiced, challenged, and grown. To flourish as individuals, we need one another. And love, the kind of love Jesus demonstrated to us, is the bond that holds our relationships together. So love God by loving others today!

Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - Read John 13:34 - 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
Take a moment and reflect on Jesus’ love for you. His love is humble like a servant who washes feet. His love is sacrificially, enduring the cross so that your sins might be forgiven. His love is wholehearted – no matter who you are, where you come from, or what you’ve done – He welcomes you with outstretched arms into His Kingdom. Now, it’s your turn. Love one another as He has loved you!

Wednesday, September 17, 2025 - Read Genesis 2:18 – 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.”

After declaring all that he had made “very good,” God takes a second look and determines that there is one thing that is “not good” and that is for “the man to be alone.” Community is part of God’s created order. He made us for one another, and we find our greatest fulfillment and growth when we are in relationship with others.  In fact, it is only as we come together as the “body of Christ” that we “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (see Ephesians 4:13). Indeed, it is not good for us to be alone!

Thursday, September 18, 2025 - Read Colossians 3:12-14 – 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Living in community is not easy. In fact, it is quite challenging. That’s why Paul urges us to “clothe” ourselves with the kind of virtues that foster community and to “bear with each other and forgive one another” as Jesus has forgiven us. None of this can happen until we wrap ourselves in the love of Christ – for it is He that binds us together in perfect unity. Does your wardrobe reflect the love of Christ today?

Friday, September 19, 2025 - Read Proverbs 27:17 - “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
No relationship is without challenges. Sometimes people rub us the wrong way and we feel hurt, unappreciated, or downright angry. We have a choice. We can walk away from that relationship, or we can, with God’s help, commit ourselves to working through these challenges together. Relationships are refining tools. They reveal our weaknesses, test our patience, and push us to mature in our faith. How is God using others to sharpen you today?