Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video with Joy Williams singing … Do They See Jesus In Me … poignantly singing of how we Christians desire to live so that others see the love of King Jesus in each of us.
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Highlight Verse[s]: John 13:34-35 [NLT] … 34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.”
… Christ’s commandment to love others the way He has loved us.
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Highlight Passage [context]: John 13:31-35 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus demands that His disciples (that’s us) love others as He has loved us.
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Reference Passage : … Matthew 5:16 [NLT] … 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
… When we shine the love light of Christ in the way we live we give praise/honor to God, the Father.
Reference Passage : …John 14:21 [NLT] … 21 Those who accept My commandments and obey them are the ones who love Me. And because they love Me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal Myself to each of them.”
… If we love the Lord, we show it by our obedience in living by His commandments.
Reference Passage : … 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… This is what Christlike love is all about.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Keila Ochoa, uses a personal reflection of how her family was treated by a new church to illustrate how Christians shine the love light of Christ for all to see the Lord’s love in the way we live for others. The ODB author wrote … Our small congregation decided to surprise my son on his sixth birthday. The church members decorated his Sunday school classroom with balloons and set up a small table with a cake on it [see photo]. When my son opened the door, everyone shouted, “Happy birthday!”
Later on, as I was cutting the cake, my son came over and whispered in my ear, “Mom, why does everyone here love me?” I had the same question! These people had known us for only six months but were treating us as longtime friends.
Have you ever met a total stranger, perhaps while traveling, and in meeting them, you discover that they are a fellow Christian. And further conversation takes on a very personal, actually unexplainable, character because both of you realize that you can be open and honest with one another because you have the love of God dwelling in each of your hearts. It’s a wonderful, inexplicable love, isn’t it, … the kind of love which can only be seen when the love of the Lord shines thru the way we show our love for others.
t’s the kind of love Jesus commanded of His disciples in the passages from John 13 and 14 above, isn’t it? It’s the kind of love Paul described when he helped fellow Christians define the nature of Christlike love (see 1Cor., Chapt 13). And it’s the kind of love which answers the question asked by Joy Williams in the linked song; … the kind of love - CHRISTLIKE LOVE - I pray that all will see as we share God’s love, thru His Spirit, with others today.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for Your love which You have implanted in the hearts of Your children to be shared with others.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here can, and will, join me to intentionally and openly share the love of Christ, as You have commanded, with others 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,” 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.
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