Love is demonstrated, not just communicated verbally. When the Scriptures tell us that God loves us, they always show God's actions that demonstrate that love. Here, John wants us to realize that God's love goes first. God demonstrates and shares his love with us before we demonstrate our love for him. He doesn't wait till it is safe to love us. He doesn't wait until he will get something in return. Instead, he goes first and defines his love in this way so that we can know that genuine love redeems when all hope seems lost - when we are not worthy, and when we are not ready. God is love, and we know this because of what his love does, had done, and will give to us even before we choose to love him.
My Prayer...
Thank you, dear Heavenly Father, for loving me so extravagantly. Please help me see the opportunities to love others you place in my path every day. Use me, please, dear Father, to demonstrate your love to someone today and the following days of my life. Help me go first with love in my life. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
"Dear Father, author of all true wisdom, Thank you that you do not send your emissaries out as mere recruiters. They are not just to baptize but to..."
""Love thy neighbour." Perhaps he rolls in riches, and thou art poor, and living in thy little cot side-by-side with his lordly mansion; thou seest..."
"[When John the Baptizer was proclaiming the coming of Jesus], Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. The moment he came out..."
Comments
Have thoughts on this devotional? Leave a comment