God is Love
Good Morning Friends,
The profound language of today’s scripture is the hardest lesson we have in life… learning to receive it… learning to give it to others… learning that God cannot be separated from this new way. Maybe it should come with trumpet blasts and the celebration of a new year this amazing awareness that God is Love.
Scripture:
24Speak to the people of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of complete rest, a holy convocation commemorated with trumpet blasts.
Leviticus 23:24 (NRSV)
So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the Day of Judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us.
1 John 4:16-19 (NRSV)
let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:22-23 (NRSV)
Message: People make a mess of their lives because they do not properly deal with the issue of God in their lives…love in their lives. Friends, the greatest truth in all of scripture is this: God is love. Understanding this, in its full dimensions, will set you free to enjoy all that is yours as a Christian. But you must accept that God loves you. John’s letters give wonderful and focused directions on how this works… how God and love are joined together in Jesus. Here we learn how in the life of Jesus, the man, God and love became linked in an accurate, detailed and permanent, way. John guides us out of our own sin by pointing to Jesus. He reminds us that this unity of God and love becomes available to us when we focus on Jesus Christ. Now if you grew up experiencing unconditional love in your family, this may not be difficult for you. However, if your early years were void of love, this truth may be hard to accept. Regardless know that God loves you, not because you deserve His love, but because His nature is love. The only way He will ever relate to you is in love. It is here in this perfect love that we in turn learn to love God’s way, a way that casts out the wants of the world, the fears of the world. We learn that we can live deeply in Christ’s love and the love of the Father as His children. Friends, if you cannot accept in your heart the truth that God loves you, that you have inherent worth that nothing can diminish, you will be limited in how you can relate to the Lord of Love. Without a clear understanding and acceptance of God’s love, including its expression in discipline, you will be disoriented to what He wants to do in your life. But friends have faith. Jesus is the teacher of how to love and the Spirit is available to comfort and guide you into an acceptance of a better way. If you will accept Jesus’ love, you will in time learn in the Spirit to return love to God and to others. Friends, with so many concepts of love in the world, it is important we discover the personal, perfecting and preserving love of Jesus. Experience the love of God at the foot of the cross…experience the love of Jesus.
Pray we love one another with the perfect love that castes out fear. Pray we love in a way that creates a good work in us and others. Pray we experience God when we love. Pray we mature in a love that links us with Jesus at the foot of the cross binding our hearts and hurts with His amazing healing. Pray that in this place of pain and pure love, of life and death, we hear the loving and ironic words whispered in our ears… I trust you… Pray we take up residence in His house of faith and it becomes our home…. with no room for fear… Pray we learn to share the easy burden… the personal, proven, perfecting and preserving, perpetual love of Jesus. Pray we experience the profound sense of joy and security that comes from knowing we are dearly loved by God. Pray this assurance of God’s love sets us free to enjoy the numerous expressions of love He showers upon us each day.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 