Friday 15 Jun 2018

June 15: 1 John 4:13-18

Key Verse: 1 John 4:16
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.

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 they don’t want to do. Well, if truth be told, we live in a world where we are being coaxed into doing things we don’t want to do all our lives. From the advertising 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 but leaves 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 they need to make an informed choice and allowing them to make a choice is. Making sure a person does get to know the truth so 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. It has been taught for so long people now believe it, just because it is written down by someone, but they have not seen it happen. They are not eye witnesses! The scientists all agree that it is based on assumptions and yet they do not openly tell us it is all just a guess. Other Christians will tell us of the creation of the world and God’s love; they back it up with written proof by eye witnesses living at the time, the Apostles. Why do we turn our backs on that sort of proof?

Jesus told us we only have to believe these facts written down many years ago are true; but really believe them, not just say we do. We need only to agree in our hearts that Jesus is the Son of God. Once we do, we will know we have His love and we know nothing can ever take it away from us. We will no longer have to fear for 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?