Wednesday Reading: 1 John 4:7-11
Key Verse: 1 John 4:11
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
Devotion:
Matthew Henry says of these verses “The Spirit of God is the Spirit of love.” Whilst I agree with those words I believe that they do not say enough because, as God’s Word tells us in verse 8 “For God is love.” To diminish that phrase in any way whatsoever would be like taking away from the Word of God but let us not get hung up in how we can describe God as loving or as love but rather what we should be doing about it. I know many will say that God does not love us because of the terrible things that happen around the world such as the recent earthquakes we hear of but we can also see that earthquakes have been a part of our sinful lives ever since Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden – so why blame it on God?
God has continued to show us that He loves us in so many ways, not least of which was through giving us His only begotten Son. Without that sacrifice we would still be struggling to keep up with the sacrifices that we needed to cover our sins. But as we also find out from our bibles that that does not work because so many people turn their backs on the sacrifices because they seem like too much hard work. People expect so much for so little – it is like they do not believe in a bit of hard work anymore and expect things to be given to them on a platter. So God did that – and we still expect more? Can you not see how we are the ones behaving like spoilt children?
God has showed us His awesome love. He continues to show us His love through things that He continues to do for each one of us. Whilst God also wants us to love Him, His major concern is that we love one another otherwise the love that we have for Him will not be shown to anyone else. How can we love Him and yet hate His people? How can we love with one hand and cast out with the other? Unless we are willing to act more like Christ and show our love to all – sinners included – then we are falling very short of what we should be doing. God has set the standard; we need to lift up that standard!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you love?
Are you reaching out to new people with love?
Key Verse: 1 John 4:11
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
Devotion:
Matthew Henry says of these verses “The Spirit of God is the Spirit of love.” Whilst I agree with those words I believe that they do not say enough because, as God’s Word tells us in verse 8 “For God is love.” To diminish that phrase in any way whatsoever would be like taking away from the Word of God but let us not get hung up in how we can describe God as loving or as love but rather what we should be doing about it. I know many will say that God does not love us because of the terrible things that happen around the world such as the recent earthquakes we hear of but we can also see that earthquakes have been a part of our sinful lives ever since Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden – so why blame it on God?
God has continued to show us that He loves us in so many ways, not least of which was through giving us His only begotten Son. Without that sacrifice we would still be struggling to keep up with the sacrifices that we needed to cover our sins. But as we also find out from our bibles that that does not work because so many people turn their backs on the sacrifices because they seem like too much hard work. People expect so much for so little – it is like they do not believe in a bit of hard work anymore and expect things to be given to them on a platter. So God did that – and we still expect more? Can you not see how we are the ones behaving like spoilt children?
God has showed us His awesome love. He continues to show us His love through things that He continues to do for each one of us. Whilst God also wants us to love Him, His major concern is that we love one another otherwise the love that we have for Him will not be shown to anyone else. How can we love Him and yet hate His people? How can we love with one hand and cast out with the other? Unless we are willing to act more like Christ and show our love to all – sinners included – then we are falling very short of what we should be doing. God has set the standard; we need to lift up that standard!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you love?
Are you reaching out to new people with love?