Sunday Reading: 1 John 4:14-17
Key Verse: 1 John 4:16
16 And we have known and believed the love that God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
Key Verse: 1 John 4:16
16 And we have known and believed the love that God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
Devotion:
It was God’s choice to come into this world. How do we know? Because we have the written proof from the Apostles who were eye witnesses to the fact! What better proof can we have than the written testament of an eye witness? And yet so many still refuse to believe because they think it will make them do things that they don’t want to do. Well, if truth be told, we live in a world where we have been coaxed into doing things we don’t want to do all our lives. From the advertising through to peer pressure, we are always being persuaded by one thing or another to do someone else’s will. What God gives us is a choice as to whether we want to do our will or His will. He lays out the truth in no uncertain terms and leave the final choice up to us. That is what I call love…
It was God’s choice to come into this world. How do we know? Because we have the written proof from the Apostles who were eye witnesses to the fact! What better proof can we have than the written testament of an eye witness? And yet so many still refuse to believe because they think it will make them do things that they don’t want to do. Well, if truth be told, we live in a world where we have been coaxed into doing things we don’t want to do all our lives. From the advertising through to peer pressure, we are always being persuaded by one thing or another to do someone else’s will. What God gives us is a choice as to whether we want to do our will or His will. He lays out the truth in no uncertain terms and leave the final choice up to us. That is what I call love…
Being brought up to do certain things just because someone else wants you to do them is not love; that is self indulgence by the person doing the persuading. Giving someone all the details that they need to make an informed choice and allowing them to make a choice is. Making sure that a person does get to know the truth so that they can make that choice is our goal. But there is a fine line between giving someone the truth and thrusting information on them. We have evolution thrust down our throats at school without certain proof that it is real. We are told that because the books have the details in, it must be true… The scientists all agree that it is based on assumptions and yet they do not openly inform us of that fact. Other Christians will tell us of the creation of the world and God love; they back that up with written proof that itself has been proven with people like the Apostles. How can we turn our backs on that sort of proof?
We need only to confess in our hearts that Jesus is the Son of God. That fact that the Apostles testify to and that other historians agree has been told for 2000 years. Once we know Christ as our God, we know we have His love and we know that nothing can ever take it away from us. We no longer have to fear about the safety of our eternal souls.
Points to Ponder:
How do you persuade others to do something?
How much more proof must God give for people to believe?
How do you persuade others to do something?
How much more proof must God give for people to believe?