Friday Reading: 1 John 4:7-8
Key Verse: 1 John 4:8
8 The one who does not love has not known God. For God is love.
Devotion:
Our call is not to judge people but we certainly see the true side of some when they come out fighting at times when we do not expect it. And yet at times when we expect them to cause trouble they do not. Is it any wonder then that God has told us not to judge others – we simply do not know enough about others to be any form of judge. God, on the other hand has every right because He is the one that can see inside each one of us and He is the one that can see whether we do love Him or not.
The disciples learned very quickly that every person would show themselves up before too long. There is no way that we can fool everyone into believing that we are doing the right thing when we are not. The more that we try to hide things the more that we will have to hide – eventually what we store up inside of us will spill out in clear view of everyone. When we say that we follow God we had better be sure that we do. God is not going to take that sort of lie sitting down because when we get found out we will be casting a shadow on Christians, God’s children, and not just ourselves.
If we say that we love God then we should be showing that to everyone around us. Christ showed His love to everyone whilst He was here on earth by not turning His back and always showing love and compassion to all. He was the one that showed love and compassion to sinners. We need to be able to follow Him in that line by making sure that we show love and compassion to all those around us and not just to our select friends.
Love is not something that should be hidden under a bush but something that needs to be shared. What good is love if it is not shown to others and shared? About the same good as a light hidden in a cupboard I expect!
Points to Ponder:
Do you hate people?
God may not like the sin but He loves the sinner?
