MEMORISE:
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Romans 12:10
READ: 1 John 4:7-11
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
MESSAGE
In Song of Solomon 8:7, love is described as being so strong that many waters cannot quench it. It is also described as having more worth than all of one’s possessions because it satisfies like nothing else can. How true the word of God is! Love is the greatest antidote against evil tendencies because the Bible declares that God is love (1 John 4:8). There is no evil in God, and so there cannot be evil in love. However, love is not the misconception the world has taken it to be. The devil has deceived the world into misconstruing lust as love. Love is a decision that originates from the expression of God nature. Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us two dimension of love: love towards God and love towards fellow human beings (Matthew 22:37-40). The Holy spirit sheds more light on the link between these two aspects of love, saying in 1 John 4:20:
“If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”
In order words, we can only express our love to God through those are created in His image. Indeed, the only way to prove that you know God is to demonstrate His kind of love to others. God’s kind of love is that which gives to those who did not deserve it. On the contrary, many children of God are selective of those they show love to. They love those who love them and hate those who hate them! Whereas Jesus Christ says in Luke 6:32-33:
“For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.”
The implication of these words is that if God requires us to love even our enemies, He expects us to love our fellow brethren in Christ even more. As a matter of fact, God places a higher premium on the task of showing love towards the brethren (Galatians 6:10).
Beloved, if you find it difficult to love people, it is probably because you have not experienced the love that the Father bestowed upon us when He forgave us our sins and declared us to be His children (1 john 3:1). If that is the case with you, I encourage you to give your life to Christ today and embrace His divine love. You might also find it difficult to love people if many people have wronged you in the past. In any case, you need to open up your heart for the Holy Spirit to work on you so that you can begin to manifest His fruit of love. May the Almighty God give you the capacity to love, particularly those of the household of faith, in Jesus’ Name.
ACTION POINT:
Demonstrate the love of God to someone that God ministers to your heart is in need of it today.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Romans 11-13
Isaiah 60:1-18
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE
HYMN 5: LET OTHERS SEE JESUS IN YOU.
1.While passing thro' this world of sin,
and others your life shall view,
Be clean and pure without, within;
Let others see Jesus in you.
Refrain:
Let others see Jesus in you,
Let others see Jesus in you.
Keep telling the story, be faithful and true;
Let others see Jesus in you.
2. Your life's a book before their eyes,
They're reading it thro' and thro'
Say, does it point them to the skis,
Do others see Jesus in you?
Refrain
3. Then live for Christ both day and night,
Be faithful, be brave and true,
and lead the lost to life and Christ.
Let others see Jesus in you.
Refrain
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