Verse of the Day 2/27

1 John 4:9-10 (HCSB) ⁹ God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

 

For the last few days of February I thought I'd focus these devotionals on love.  Where better can we start than God's love for us in sending His Son, Jesus, for us.  Think about Jesus' life, how he lived, how he loved, how he died, and how he rose again, for us.  This living through Him involves "putting on Christ" as we considered yesterday and living for Him, which will mean living for others.

 

In a sermon on this passage John Piper stated that "the aspect of the new birth that I want us to focus on is the fact that new birth creates the connection between God's love for us and our love for each other. If anyone ever asks,  "How does the fact that God loves you result in your loving others?"  the answer is: The new birth creates that connection. The new birth is the act of the Holy Spirit connecting our dead, selfish hearts with God's living, loving heart so that his life becomes our life and his love becomes our love."

 

How will your life be different today, this week and perhaps for the rest of your life if "his life becomes your life and his love becomes our love"?  May it be our prayer today that God's love may be revealed to us that (as Piper concludes) ,  we may "focus in a fresh way on the love God manifest in sending his Son and in his Son laying down his life to show us what the Father's love is like. And as we focus on the glories of the love of God in Christ, let's pray earnestly that the new birth would be confirmed among us as it creates the connection between God's love for us and our love for each other."

 

In Christ,
Mike

 

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Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV

1 John 4:7-12 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Knowing God through Love

 ⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us.