Devotional Song: Go to this link – Please take your time to see a lyrical video of the group Avalon singing their son … Testify to Love, reminding Christians that every time they reach out in the Name of God to witness to His love they identify themselves as part of the family of God.
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Highlight Passage: 1st John 4: 7 … [NKJV] …
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
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Highlight Context - NKJV: 1st John 4: 7-16 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK …
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Reference Passage #1 - NKJV: John 13: 34-35 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK … Whenever others see Christians loving one another, as Jesus declares, they see the label of God’s love on display …
Reference Passage #2 - NKJV: Romans 5: 8 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK …
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Reference Passage #3 - NKJV: 1st John 3: 1-3 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK … … God’s love is on display when the family of God love on one another …
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by Bill Crowder, uses an interesting word picture to illustrate Christian love on display. The author makes reference to the famous sweaters made in the Aran Islands, a group of islands just off the coast of Ireland, where the families (i.e., Irish clans) identify their clan markings with sweaters, which are knit by the various clans to identify themselves. And now those beautiful 100% wool sweaters, bed covers, and scarves are marketed world-wide because of their beauty and distinctiveness. One will know the identity of the clan who made each patterned sweater by the distinctive patters of knitting in the various items [see attached photo].
When John was writing his first letter to the church while in exile on Patmos, he wrote a reinforcement to a principle he had earlier written about, quoting Jesus, in John 13: 34-35 (see link above). In today’s ODB highlight verse, [see 1st John 4: 7] John wrote, ”Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” In other words, taking both of these passages into account, others can recognize that we are part of the family of God when they see us loving one another, especially when we obviously show love to one who is very unloveable. It’s like wearing an Aran sweater from a certain clan, maybe the “Maloney” clan. That is, people know that I’m representing the “Maloney” family if I’m wearing a Maloney clan sweater. Likewise, people will see that I’m part of the family of God, when I’m wearing his love for all to see.
So, the question becomes, will I be wearing the love of God, openly and for all to see, as I walk about in the world today? Will I, as Avalon sings in the linked song today, “Testify to Love,” by the way I live and move and have my being? Will others see me wearing the identifiable garment of love which identify me as part of God’s family as I go out today?
We’ll see!
And yes, prayerfully others WILL DEFINITELY SEE God’s love on display as I show off my family markings of love today.
My Prayer for Today … Lord, let me wear Your colors of love today! … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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