Weekly Teaching Reflection

June 14th Reflection

Discussion Questions

  1. Where do you see our culture settling for tolerance instead of love? In what ways have you been tempted toward either condemnation or polite indifference?

  1. Think about a person who helped shape your faith. How did they embody commitment, presence, advocacy, and direction? Which of those had the greatest impact on you?

  2. Correction without commitment, presence, and advocacy often feels like manipulation. Have you ever experienced that? What was it like? How might this change the way we approach difficult conversations?

  3. Biblical love is covenant action rather than primarily emotion. How does that challenge the common understanding of love in our culture? How does it challenge your own assumptions?

  4. Who is difficult for you to love right now? What might it look like to move from merely tolerating them to actively seeking their flourishing? What practical step could you take?

  5. Reframing "speaking the truth in love" as "truthing in love" as living out the way of Jesus together: What changes when truth becomes something we embody rather than merely say?

  6. "Maybe the question isn't: 'How quickly can I correct someone?' Maybe it's: 'How faithfully can I love them?'" What stirred in you as you heard that statement? How might this shape the kind of community God is inviting us to become?

 Scripture for Reflection

Encourage the group to slowly read these passages and sit with a phrase or word that stands out.

  • Luke 6:35–36

  • Galatians 5:6

  • Colossians 3:13–14

  • Romans 13:10

  • Ephesians 4:15

 

For Practice This Week

Ask the Holy Spirit to bring one person to mind, someone you have been merely tolerating, avoiding, correcting from a distance, or quietly judging.

Choose one concrete act of covenant love toward them this week:

  • Commitment (To): Reach out and communicate, "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

  • Presence (With): Share a meal, make a phone call, or simply spend unhurried time together.

  • Advocacy (For): Encourage them, defend their dignity, pray for them by name, or look for a way to support their flourishing.

  • Direction (Toward): If you have earned the trust through commitment, presence, and advocacy, lovingly invite them one step closer to Jesus and wholeness.

At the end of the week, reflect:

  • Which movement of love was easiest for me?

  • Which was hardest?

  • How did practicing covenant love deepen my awareness of how God has loved me?

Listen to this week’s teaching