April 16, 2023 … No Greater Love

Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 106 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...   Please take the time to take in song and lyrics  from Mark Laurent singing … Sacrificial Love … poignantly singing of how God sacrificed His all for all who would believe in Him as Lord, …. willing to die to save us from our sin.  

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Highlight Passage: … John 15:12-13 [NLT] … 

12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 

… Jesus teaches His disciples that they must love each other just as He loved them, … being willing to die for them as friends.        

Highlight Passage (Context): … John 15:9-17 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK …  

… Jesus, the night before He was to die on the cross, teaches His disciples about being willing to give of their lives for a friend just as He was willing to do for those who believe in Him as Lord.                              .                     

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Reference Passage: … John 3:16 [NLT] … 

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.. 

… Jesus teaches on the extent of God’s love, . being willing to sacrifice His son to save mankind from our sin and give eternal life for those who believe in God’s Son as Messiah. 

Reference Passage: … Romans 5:8 [NLT] … 

8 But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.. 

…  Paul shows fellow Christians the extent of God’s sacrificial love for even sinners.    

Reference Passage: … 1Corinthians 13:4-7 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul also teaches fellow Christians on the essence of Christlike, sacrificial, love.

Reference Passage: … Galatians 2:20 [NLT] … 

20 My old self has been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.. 

… Paul testifies how Christ’s finished work on the cross had allowed him to die to self and live with God’s love in his heart.   

Reference Passage: … 1John 3:16 [NLT] … 

16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 

… John teaches on the essence of Christ’s love and how we, as Christians, should share the same king of sacrificial love with one another.   

                                                                                                                         

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Amy Boucher Pie … AT THIS LINK …   ells how a French police officer,  … Arnaud Beltrame, … negotiated a swap of himself for a hostage, a situation which ultimately cost the policeman his life. 

Later, at the officer’s funeral, it was revealed that it was Officer Beltrame’s faith in Christ which led him to be willing to sacrifice his life to save the life of that hostage.   The Officer was willing to give up his life, … just as Christ was willing to die for the lives of any/all who would give their (our) all for our love of Christ, … Our Lord was willing, as God’s Son and our Messiah, to willingly and sacrificially die that any/all who believe in Him might have eternal life.  

And taking in the linked song and the Scriptures above, I’m praying that I, along with any who read with me here, might be willing to give of ourselves just as our Savior was willing to die to save us. 

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for being willing to die that I may live in Your love … FOREVER!         

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to live in and give of Your love, Lord, for others today.   …  Amen               . 

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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,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries.  If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.