Do You Believe You Are Loved By God?
Good Morning Friends,
From time to time, I find myself wanting to control the flow of love in this world and the love of others, making a judgment call about its distribution. This is of course crazy thinking. Perhaps it is not my natural inclination to release love, especially when, as I look around I see so many people, and even people of faith, looking to self-interests first. But that perspective is not the love spoken about in today’s scripture from 1 John. The message here is not about a commodity but our attitude in the relationship. So even before our first cup of coffee we face today’s question. Do You Believe You Are Loved By God?
Scripture: By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 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 judgement, 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. Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
1 John 4:13-21 (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)
“I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”
Matthew 25:36 (NRSV)
Message: The law of the Kingdom calls us to learn to love one another sincerely, deeply from the heart in conjunction with His servant-like love that is to abide in us. Yes… God so loved the world that He sent His son. And the Son has determined that we too should have this heart of a servant and where we go, so goes His love. This message is repeated time and time again in the New Testament and too often we miss it, responding with a yes, but…. So we don’t get. The reality is that wherever we go, God has already been. The question is whether we have forsaken God in the experience, whether He is a reflected in us, not if the place and its people are or should be forsaken by God. God is love, so we are called to love one another with the perfect love that castes out fear, love and be loved in a way that creates a good work in us and others. The problem is that people make a mess of their lives because they do not deal with the issue of God in their lives…love in their lives properly. With so many concepts of love in the world, it is important we discover the personal, perfecting and preserving love of Jesus. John’s letters give wonderful and focused directions on how this works… how God and love are joined together in Jesus. He shows us 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. We learn to love God’s way, a way that casts out the wants of the world, the fear of the world. We learn that we can live deeply in Christ’s love and the love of the Father as His children. We learn that we are His frail children burdened with a load beyond our strength, a burden that He is willing to carry for us. We begin to understand that though we live in a world where sin is fatal, the God begotten are the God loved and can become the God protected, the God forgiven. It is this real love of Jesus, this bold strength and free love of God that He wants to be in us and shared through us. It is not the illusions of the world. It is only the complete, honest, undivided love of Jesus that casts out the fear of the world. Blessed with this love we pray that others too will choose and experience the mercy and love of Jesus, the manifestation of a kinder, gentler God.
So learn to love like God, mature in the faith, joyously recognizing Him in the lives of the poor and sick and suffering, but also learn to be loved by God so that He abides in you. The two go well together.
Pray we accept the truth that God loves us as His way of relating to us. Pray we experience the profound sense of joy and security that comes from knowing we are loved by God. Pray we not only accept God’s love but return this love to God as well as others. Pray we have the mercy of God in us.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 