JULY 22, 2024
Topic: LOVING GOD, BEARING HIS PRESENCE”
Text: 1 John 4:8-10
Memory Verse: I John 4:10 – “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”.
Only people who love, know God actually, because God is love! When we start tasting the relationship of mutual, unconditional, spontaneous love, we start to know God better, because the very essence of God is that love. We will know God better, if we love everyone better! God gives rain and sunshine to both the wicked and the righteous!
The hardest thing for us to do is to love the people who upset us and make us angry, but still we must! When there is hostility, contention, and bitterness, the devil is present in our relationship! However, when there is genuine, joyful love, then God is present, for God is Love. God’s kingdom is a Kingdom of love, but I do not see that kind of love when God’s people interact with each other. We are not anxious to love and know each other.
How will we love others, if we do not try to fellowship with them! The Church must be a place of love, and when it is so, then, God is definitely present. If there is rivalry, hatred, division, and contention, then it becomes the devil’s habitation. Let us also love those people who are obstinate and stiff-necked. Let us love our enemies also.
Everyone who loves God and others is born of God and knows God. Let us examine ourselves and see if we have any idols in our hearts. Let us confess our sins so that we may be forgiven.
Godly love should be a reciprocal love that exists between believers in which each considers the need of the others before their own. Divine love demands that we do what is best for other people in the light of eternity, no matter what may be the cost to us – for divine love is an action that flows from an attitude that seeks to consider what is best for another – to the honour of God – as prompted by the Spirit of God.
PRAYER: Baba, you are a loving God. Let me love also and show love where is hatred. Father, you showed us love first by sending your only son to die for our sins. Let me reciprocate your kind gesture in Jesus’ name, Amen.