Walk It Out Wednesday: Love Steps In – Pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts

Family, welcome. We’re so glad you’re here, because the word you are about to hear has the power to change everything. When God speaks and His truth meets us right where we are, it awakens something deep inside. And when that happens, don’t just let it pass—respond. Build an altar in your heart. Give God something back. For me, that’s always been planting a seed, because it anchors the moment when His word pierced my soul.

But before we go further, let’s pray:
Holy Spirit, I can do nothing without You—but with You, everything is possible. Meet us now. Remove the walls that have kept us from Your love. Let Your peace and presence overflow. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

This week, I revisited a message called Love Steps In. It begins with a truth about all of us—we are shaped by the environments we come from. Many of us weren’t first formed by the image of God, but by the image of shame, rejection, or abandonment. And yet, faith is choosing to believe what Jeremiah says: “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb, I knew you.” God breathed His life into us, sending us to earth to reflect His likeness.

Sin tried to rewrite that image. Sometimes it was our own sin, sometimes the sins of others, sometimes the weight of generational brokenness. Sin separated us from God. But that’s when love stepped in. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

That promise isn’t only about heaven one day. It means life here, today, that many of us haven’t even tapped into yet. Jesus came to show us what it means to live in God’s image while still navigating rejection, betrayal, temptation, and struggle. He is the model. And if He is our model, then His words must shape us.

In Matthew 5, Jesus flips the script: “You’ve heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who persecute you.” That’s not easy. Our instinct is to hold people accountable for how they hurt us, or to wish them harm. But Jesus calls us higher—to love like God, even when it costs us something.

Real love is not weakness; it is strength. On the cross, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That’s agape love—unconditional, benevolent, enduring. And sometimes loving well means setting boundaries. Jesus rebuked Peter when Peter tried to keep Him from the cross. You can love someone and still create space. Sometimes distance is the only way to love rightly.

But here’s the truth: love looks different in different seasons. Sometimes God’s love comforts us in mourning. Sometimes it fills us when we are empty. Sometimes it strengthens us to endure storms that will not stop. And sometimes, His love restores—not always by giving back what was lost, but by restoring our soul.

So how do we live this out? How do we change when all we’ve known is pain or negativity? It begins with worship. Worship changes our input so that our output can be transformed. Worship is more than a song; it’s focus. It’s choosing to lift our eyes off fear, doubt, and anxiety, and fix them on God’s goodness. When we do, we start to see ourselves differently—through His eyes, not through the lens of our past.

Transformation isn’t instant, and sometimes patterns feel unbreakable. But here’s the promise: what you cannot defeat in your own strength, the Spirit of God can destroy. Deliverance is real. Chains do break. And when we can’t carry ourselves, God places people around us to stand in agreement, to pray with us, to believe for freedom when we are too tired to believe for ourselves.

God’s love steps in to restore, to heal, and to redefine who you are. You are not the sum of your failures. You are not the image of your past. You are the beloved child of God, made in His image, called to reflect His heart.

And when you begin to walk in that truth, you won’t just know about His love—you’ll live in it, and you’ll become a vessel of it.