Father's Love Letter Devotional Series 16 of 53
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 him.
(NIV Bible)
In Mark 12:28-31 Jesus tells one of the teachers of the law that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind, and with all your strength. In this passage Jesus sums up all of the commandments into this one little but profound word love.
Loving God and loving others is the foundation of the gospel, and the only way we have the capacity to love God is if it is in response to His incredible love for us. The bible says in 1 John 4:19 that we love because He first loved us. We cannot love Him first, He needs to love us first. It is only in the overflow of His love to us that we can love Him back and have the ability to love others.
Many Christians, especially those active in ministry, perceive the love of God as a ministry tool not to spend on themselves, but only to give away to others. But the truth is we need to first receive the revelation of Gods love in our own hearts, before we will ever be able to give it away to others. God wants us to bask in His love, marinate in His love, soak in His loving presence, so that His love can touch the deepest need in our hearts. When we become like sponges drenched in the love of God, then when we bump into people, they will get soaked with what we have been soaking in.
The call of God in 1 John 4:16 is for us to live in love, for when we live in love, we live in God. There was a popular song a few years ago that said that God was watching us from a distance. While many of us have a theological grasp on the love of God, from an experiential perspective, we sometimes can feel that His love is just out of our reach.
God is not watching us from a distance, but is closer to than we could possibly imagine. His first priority is not that we save the world, but that we receive His love and simply love Him back. When like sponges, our hearts begin to drink in the extravagant love of God personally and intimately, before long it will begin to seep out of every one of our pores and truly impact the world around us.
*****************
I read this today along with 1 John 4:7-21 and found some comforting truths. One of the reasons I think I was led to read this today is because recently God placed on my heart to pray for someone who is difficult(impossible?) for me to love.
1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Notice that God's love doesn't depend on whether we love Him or not.
I think we are called to do likewise- love even if we are not loved in return - or God is not loved.
This is a very difficult teaching. I'm not very good at this.
How are we to do this? Look at vs 16 again - it is key.
We need to rely on God's love thru us to do this. I am really not good at this. It does help to know that His love lives in me already - I don't have to somehow come up with it - I need to rely on it - it's already there and it's perfect/ unconditional. This is comforting to me because I'm far from perfect.
Prayer
Thank You Lord for Your unconditional love - that it is perfect and it lives in each of us who have invited Jesus Christ into our hearts. Thank You for Your Son Jesus who You gave us not because of our love, but because of Yours. As You have accepted us when we did not deserve Your love, will You help each of us to accept those whom we find it hard to love? Help each of us rely on Your love to do this. Please fill each of us so full of Your love that it spills on to others, especially those who we find hard to love. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
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 him.
(NIV Bible)
In Mark 12:28-31 Jesus tells one of the teachers of the law that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind, and with all your strength. In this passage Jesus sums up all of the commandments into this one little but profound word love.
Loving God and loving others is the foundation of the gospel, and the only way we have the capacity to love God is if it is in response to His incredible love for us. The bible says in 1 John 4:19 that we love because He first loved us. We cannot love Him first, He needs to love us first. It is only in the overflow of His love to us that we can love Him back and have the ability to love others.
Many Christians, especially those active in ministry, perceive the love of God as a ministry tool not to spend on themselves, but only to give away to others. But the truth is we need to first receive the revelation of Gods love in our own hearts, before we will ever be able to give it away to others. God wants us to bask in His love, marinate in His love, soak in His loving presence, so that His love can touch the deepest need in our hearts. When we become like sponges drenched in the love of God, then when we bump into people, they will get soaked with what we have been soaking in.
The call of God in 1 John 4:16 is for us to live in love, for when we live in love, we live in God. There was a popular song a few years ago that said that God was watching us from a distance. While many of us have a theological grasp on the love of God, from an experiential perspective, we sometimes can feel that His love is just out of our reach.
God is not watching us from a distance, but is closer to than we could possibly imagine. His first priority is not that we save the world, but that we receive His love and simply love Him back. When like sponges, our hearts begin to drink in the extravagant love of God personally and intimately, before long it will begin to seep out of every one of our pores and truly impact the world around us.
*****************
I read this today along with 1 John 4:7-21 and found some comforting truths. One of the reasons I think I was led to read this today is because recently God placed on my heart to pray for someone who is difficult(impossible?) for me to love.
1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Notice that God's love doesn't depend on whether we love Him or not.
I think we are called to do likewise- love even if we are not loved in return - or God is not loved.
This is a very difficult teaching. I'm not very good at this.
How are we to do this? Look at vs 16 again - it is key.
We need to rely on God's love thru us to do this. I am really not good at this. It does help to know that His love lives in me already - I don't have to somehow come up with it - I need to rely on it - it's already there and it's perfect/ unconditional. This is comforting to me because I'm far from perfect.
Prayer
Thank You Lord for Your unconditional love - that it is perfect and it lives in each of us who have invited Jesus Christ into our hearts. Thank You for Your Son Jesus who You gave us not because of our love, but because of Yours. As You have accepted us when we did not deserve Your love, will You help each of us to accept those whom we find it hard to love? Help each of us rely on Your love to do this. Please fill each of us so full of Your love that it spills on to others, especially those who we find hard to love. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
