We Spend Time With Because We Love

If you were stranded on a desert island, who would you want to be stuck with?


My guess is either answered with Leif or Scott because they'd build you a shelter and catch you food. OR you answered with one of your closest friends because that's a lot of time you'll be spending together and you want to be with someone you like.

Time is something we all value and are often careful with how we use it. When people make the time to hang with us in whatever capacity, it lets us know that they love us.

Read Luke 10:38-42.

There are three characters in the story, who are they and what are they doing?
1)

2)

3)

When Martha asks Jesus to make Mary help, he tells her, "there's only one thing worth being concerned about." (Luke 10:42a NLT). What is that one thing?


Mary opted to spend time with Jesus. Jesus said that was better than worrying about cooking and cleaning and everything else. (That's not to say those other things don't matter, my last devo was on serving… We just got to keep things in check.)

The New Testament is full of passages that talk about "one-anothering"… It's a kind of silly phrase but it groups together all these different verbs that we are to do for or with one another… Love one another, serve one another, instruct one another, forgive one another, encourage one another, confess to one another… in order to do these things, we must spend time with one another. "So then, as we have the opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." (Gal. 6:10 ESV). We spend time with others because we love them.

Have you ever watched White Wolves? For those of you that haven't had the privilege, a group of teens and their leader go on a backpacking trip, very much like the wilderness trip, with less canoeing. Their goal is to get to the top of Eagle Rock. They eventually make it to the top and disaster strikes! Their trip turns into a rescue mission and they go through struggle after struggle on the way. In the beginning of the movie, Pandra tells Kara she likes Adam. As the movie goes on, Kara and Adam continually end up spending time together, they raft together, sit together at campfires, etc. They develop a deeper relationship because they spend time together. We just need to make sure the people we choose to spend time with our good people… What does 1 Corinthians 15:33 say about this?


There's one more thing we can learn from the story of Mary and Martha – we spend time with God because we love him. Jesus wasn't just any old friend Mary was hanging out with. If you look back at Luke 10:39, it says she was listening to His word. If we love Jesus, we will spend time reading His word and praying. We can't know Him and His will for our lives without spending time with Him. "If you love me, he will keep my commandments." (John 14:15 ESV). 

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This is a devotional I wrote for the teens on the Ecuador missions trip. Our theme for the devotionals is "We _____ because we love." We came up with a list of 11 (one for each day), and this is one I was assigned.