Hi Everyone,
Sharing a devotional with you from 1 John 4:7-21
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
God is love, isn’t love such a beautiful thing? People fall in love, parent have this incredible love for their children, we love our pets. Love is from God and it is God. The greatest love of all was God sending His son to earth to die and take all our sins away. John is reminding the followers of Jesus the early church that God is love and what it looks like to love those around us because God is love. We are not loving others out of our own power but by God’s grace and His power that we can love like He does because we are in Christ. Verse 13 it says “This is how we know that we live in him and he in us.” when we live and love according to Christ it shows that we are in him because the Holy Spirit is in us. The Spirit now in us can show others what Love from God is like. Do we get it right all the time? No, but the great thing is that we can continue to grow in this area and allow the Holy Spirit to speak and to convict us and bring us back to the truth of God. This is what discipleship is which is bringing people back to Christ in love and reminding each other the truth of Jesus and the Good News.
Where there is love there can be no fear. Have you ever felt no fear? I am reminded whenever I see children do things that I would never do. Like jump off a diving board and have no fear or not being afraid of heights. What would it look like to live for Jesus without fear? As a child I would go up to everyone and talk with them, now however, I would not do that now. Is my image more important than to share something that may make someone’s day in love? I have come to the realization that I was living in fear and Jesus in His gracious love is not condemning me but is bringing be back to His love so that out of His love I can be who God made me to be which is to love those around me. Friends let us love one another out of the Love of God and the gift that He has given to us. Let us love those around us not with fear but with the Love that Christ has shown us with the greatest gift of all Jesus! May we love others with the love of the Father who so generously gives.
Blessing ,
Esther