Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a You Tube video of images from Wayne Watson singing … Love Found A Way, poignantly expressing the reality and power of God’s love and how it prevails in the life of any true Christian.
Highlight Passage: 1st John 4:9 [NKJV] …
9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
… John had a preoccupation with God’s love for us and our love for others through Him.
===========
Highlight Context … 1st John 4:7-19 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… We see God … we know God … primarily through love.
===========
Reference Passage #1 … John 3:16, 13:34-35, 14:21 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Love prevailed as one of the primary themes in John’s Gospel.
Reference Passage #2 … 1st Corinthians 13 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul’s “love chapter,” where he defines the essence of God’s love for us and what should be our love for others; … especially note verse 13 … “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
My Journal for Today: … Our Daily Bread author, Bill Crowder, made reference to the Apostle John’s writing, where the subject of LOVE (“agape”) was a prevalent theme. He wrote: As Jesus’s beloved disciple John grew older, his teaching became increasingly narrowed, focusing entirely on the love of God in his three letters. In the book Knowing the Truth of God’s Love, Peter Kreeft cites an old legend which says that one of John’s young disciples once came to him complaining, “Why don’t you talk about anything else?” John replied, “Because there isn’t anything else.”
And when one goes to John’s earlier Gospel account (see linked passages above), we also see that John wrote often of God’s love and how the Lord’s love for us should influence our love for others. In fact, John was clear in his writings that if we, as proclaimed Christians, don’t show love for others - openly and obviously - we are not IN CHRIST (i.e., not saved). So, I’ll leave it to any reader with me here and the Holy Spirit to resolve that issue.
But the essence of what “LOVE” is an how important it is can, of course, be found in Paul’s famous “love chapter,” … see 1st Corinthians 13, linked above. And I’d exhort all readers to spend some time listening to the linked song above and meditating in that love chapter to see if we, as Christians, are loving others as we CHRISTIANS should.
My Prayer Today: O, Heavenly Father, … Lord, … Show Your love through me today to anyone I contact, all of whom need Your love. 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, 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment