Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – 1 John 4:7-21
Set – Jeremiah 32; 1 John 4
Go! – Jeremiah 31-32; 1 John 4
1 John 4:7-21
7 My loved ones, let us devote ourselves to loving one another. Love comes straight from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and truly knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 Because of this, the love of God is a reality among us: God sent His only Son into the world so that we could find true life through Him. 10 This is the embodiment of true love: not that we have loved God first, but that He loved us and sent His unique Son on a special mission to become an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 So, my loved ones, if God loved us so sacrificially, surely we should love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God with human eyes; but if we love one another, God truly lives in us. Consequently God’s love has accomplished its mission among us.
13 How can we be sure that He truly lives in us and that we truly live in Him? By one fact: He has given us His Spirit. 14 We have watched what God has done, and we stand ready to provide eyewitness testimonies to the reality that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone unites with our confession that Jesus is God’s own Son, then God truly lives in that person and that person lives in God. 16 We have experienced and we have entrusted our lives to the love of God in us.
God is love. Anyone who lives faithfully in love also lives faithfully in God, and God lives in him. 17 This love is fulfilled with us, so that on the day of judgment we have confidence based on our identification with Jesus in this world. 18 Love will never invoke fear. Perfect love expels fear, particularly the fear of punishment. The one who fears punishment has not been completed through love.
19 We love because He has first loved us. 20 If someone claims, “I love God,” but hates his brother or sister, then he is a liar. Anyone who does not love a brother or sister, whom he has seen, cannot possibly love God, whom he has never seen. 21 He gave us a clear command, that all who love God must also love their brothers and sisters.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
As children, the first thing you probably learned about Me was “God is love.” John learned it well as he walked with Me in My human form. He is sometimes called the disciple I loved. I think it’s probably turned the other way as well because John truly learned what love means as he poured his heart into his letters to the churches.
John recognized all My commands could be boiled down into the single directive to love. Love Me. Love your brother and sister believers. Love you enemies. Love those in authority over you. Love those you might not agree with. Just love. I am the very essence of love. As you learned as a child, I am love.
John got it right. You can’t love Me if you don’t love those you see around you. If you don’t love those around you, you don’t love Me. How can you love someone you haven’t see and not those around you that you have seen? John’s right, it’s not possible. My love isn’t in you if you don’t have real love for those around you. If My love is in you, you’ll see others the way I see them. You’ll see them as eternal souls with eternal destinies. You’ll see others as My highest creation and you’ll know that My desire is that all should know My saving grace.
You will know that not everyone will accept My grace and salvation, but My desire is that they do. I won’t force Myself on you or anyone else. As much as I want you to be with Me throughout eternity, it will always be your choice. You can accept My salvation or refuse it. You choose your action, I choose the consequences.
The consequences were set in motion before time. Those who accept My will spend eternity with Me. Those who don’t will be separated from Me eternally. The book of Revelations describes what it will be like for those who choose not to follow Me. The contrast is there for all to read and study. The choice is yours. The consequences of your choice is laid out before you. Choose wisely. Choose to love as I love.
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