Oct 19, 2020 … Love Wins

Berry Patch Devotions in 2020 - Day 293 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...    Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Joy Williams singing … Do They See Jesus In Me … poignantly singing of how we Christians should always be trying to reflect the love of Jesus in the way we live our lives. 

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Highlight Passage:  Luke 23:41 [ESV] ... 

41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”  

…   One of two thieves dying with Jesus on the cross, finds repentance and shows compassionate love for Jesus, … showing. as Jesus personified, … that love always wins over hatred.  

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Highlight Passage [Context]: …  Luke 23:32-46 [ESV] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… Luke describes God’s love prevailing over hatred on the cross with one of two thieves showing love for Jesus on the cross. 

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Reference Passage: …   John 3:16-17 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK … 

…   Jesus declares that the love of His Heavenly Father would ultimately win our over the hatred of sin.  

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

…   God, thru Paul, declares the truth that love prevails over all ills in this world. 

Reference Passage: …  1Peter 4:8 [ESV] …  

8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 

… Peter declares that love will conquer and win over a multitude of sins.  

Reference Passage: …  1John 4:8 [ESV] …  

8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

… When we don’t show love for others, we are not reflecting the very nature of God, which is love.  

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Arthur Jackson, AT THIS LINK reflects on how one young man, whose mother was murdered in the horrible hate crime in a church in Charleston, SC in 2015 [see photo].  In spite of his loss, the young man declared “Love is stronger than hate,” indicating his Christian grace and faith which he had learned from his mother.      

I’ve always been uplifted by the true story of the two thieves dying with Jesus on crosses, side-by-side on Golgotha [see Luke 23 account]. One thief demonstrated hatred and the other love.  And the one with the loving recognition of God’s grace in Jesus was rewarded by salvation, … showing that love alway prevails over hatred. 

So, with division and hatred showing their ugly faces of death all around us these days, how can we be lights of hope and love [see reference passages above], showing the love of Christ in all we say and do these days?  I pray we live as Joy Williams sings in the linked song today.      

 

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for showing me how to love and conquering any unGodly feelings I might have today.  

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray that all reading here will join me to become beacons of hope and love today in a world so racked by hatred and spite.  … 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.