God’s Way Of Living
Opening Prayer
Lord, I am grateful for the potential and privileges of this day. Infuse me with wisdom so that I may make wise decisions for each hour.
Read 1 JOHN 4:7–21
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
New International Version (NIV)
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Reflect
“Love was the distinctive of the early Christians. The Emperor Julian (330–363 A.D.) declared that the power of the Christians to lead people away from the pagan gods was due to their love for one another, their tender care of the dead, and the holiness of their lives” (Scot McKnight). This is still a potent witness today!
“Roman slaves and workshop owners were not used to sitting down at table and praying with Torah-observant Jews, and kosher Jews were not used to reading Scripture with prostitutes or migrant workers—and Paul thought this was the greatest vision of God’s way of living!” (Scot McKnight).
If we don’t often think about the Second Coming, still less do we reflect on the biblical truth that one day we will be judged and held accountable to God. Karen H. Jobes observes that, as a consequence, “the gracious atonement for our sin is not viewed as the greatest gift of love but as an irrelevant and outdated belief of primitive religion”; she goes on to suggest that “fallen creatures seek God’s love and goodness elsewhere in a fallen creation.” This comment bears some pondering. We need to hold two truths in tension: the justice of God and his love for us. We cannot begin to comprehend his love until we also begin to comprehend how much we have been forgiven and the price that Jesus paid.
Allow the reality and depth of God’s love to penetrate your whole being. Experience his forgiveness. Know what it is like not to be afraid in his presence. Let this love transform you. Then, the next time you are in a church meeting or among Christians with whom you have a profound difference, let your actions be determined by this love. Remember that the New Testament’s great passage on love, 1 Corinthians 13, was written to a church rife with quarrels. Truth matters, of course. John knew that. What will bring truth and fellowship is not the best argument or most forceful presentation, but the simple expression of godly love. Scot McKnight defines biblical love as a rugged commitment to someone, to be with someone, to be for someone and to seek with that someone to become Christ-like together.
Apply
Is the love described here an act of the will or a feeling? Why? When for you has God’s love cast out fear?
Closing prayer
Thank You, Father, for sending Jesus to atone for my sins. I confess the times when I have failed You, and pray that, going forward, my life will radiate Your love.
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