Good Morning Friends,
I asked my grandsons a year ago when they were three to tell me about God. One said, “God made everything. God understands pain. My pain. He wants us to pray and go to church.” The younger of the two simply said. “God is in me.” They did not say that God is love but somehow it was implied in their countenance while answering. The thing is that the love of God, if we truly love God, becomes so universal and permeating in a way that it is transformative. We begin to love the person we are with. It is a filling of the Spirit even for three-year-old boys. They are children of the God who loves first. But I wonder, When Did You First Feel An Anointing With God’s Leadership Of Love?
Scripture: 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. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.
1 John 4:19-5:4 (NRSV)
Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”
Luke 4:14-22a (NRSV)
In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children— “My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts.” Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled.
Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15 (NRSV)
He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching.
Mark 6:1-6 (NRSV)
but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”
Matthew 19:14 (NRSV)
for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Galatians 3:26-27 (NRSV)
Message: “We love because he first loved us.” This is the starting point of the Christian life. Before we prayed, believed, or understood anything, God loved us. His love is not abstract—it takes shape in real relationships, real choices, real people. Scripture insists that love for God becomes visible in love for neighbors. One life. One movement. One Spirit. Jesus embodies this love. Filled with the Spirit, He announces good news for the poor, freedom for the captive, sight for the blind, and hope for the oppressed. Love becomes action. Yet even in His hometown, Jesus meets resistance. Familiarity blinds. Assumptions harden. People miss the love standing right in front of them. We live in that same tension: God’s love is active and liberating yet often misunderstood or rejected. Still, His love forms us. Hebrews reminds us that God’s discipline is not punishment but training—a shaping love that strengthens weak places and heals what is wounded. And Jesus shows us that the kingdom belongs to those who receive like children—open, trusting, uncluttered by cynicism. Children don’t earn love; they rest in it. They simply receive. Even the smallest among us can be filled with the Spirit, as my grandsons so beautifully revealed. Faith, then, is both discernment and risk. It asks us to see beyond prejudice, fear, and old assumptions—our own as much as others’. It invites us to interpret our lives through the lens of God’s love, to recognize miracles not only as events but as revelations of God’s presence. Doubt is not the enemy; unbelief is. Doubt can become the doorway to deeper trust. Jesus gives us what we need: wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, holy action, and love empowered by the Spirit. Our task is not to measure success but to stay rooted in what God has done and is doing.
And So, remember that you are loved first. God’s love precedes every response you make. You are called to love concretely. Look for the person in front of you. You are being shaped by love. Hard places may be holy places of formation. You are invited to childlike openness. Receive before you strive. You are sent in the Spirit’s power. Even into familiar places where you may be welcomed or resisted. Love requires courage, character, and a willingness to be transformed.
Pray we trust God to cast out fear, restore relationships, and prevent harm. Pray we welcome Jesus into our homes. Pray that we grow in holiness. Pray that we preach the good news and comfort the brokenhearted, and see beauty where others see rejection. Pray that we train up the children in our lives to know the Way of Love.
Blessings, John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 