Today's devotional is written by Pastor Roy Summers
Human Love
Think back for a moment to all the human loves you have known. Husband, wife, child, parent, brother and sister in Christ, friend.... Ask yourself: have all of them survived the passing of the years? How many who once loved you, love no more? And of those that remain, how many 'bumps in the road' have those loves experienced?
We all know the answer to these questions, because we all know that human love is fickle, changeable, up and down, unreliable.
Because we are sinners.
Adam, so madly in love with Eve that he burst out in lyrical poem at the mere first sight of her, says to the Lord, in the next moment, "The woman (he does not even call her by her name!) you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." (Genesis 3:12) Selfish self-preservation led him to blame the one he thought he loved.
Selfishness and a hundred other weaknesses blight all human loves.
And yet there is within all our love songs, from Arertha Franklin to the Juveniles, a hope for permanence in human love, a desire for durability that is a faint echo of God's love.
God's Love
In our A-Z journey through the great salvation words of Scripture, we've arrived at L, which stands for God's Love and our verse is:
"This is love: not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:10)
The definition of love, writes John, is not to be found in human love, not even in our love for God. No, love is defined by God's love, and especially by one event which perfectly expresses that love.
Let's work through this together.
God's love is defined by an action. We too often define love in emotional or romantic terms, but love is not primarily about emotions it is first about actions. Let's remember this.
We should never say "we love someone" unless we undertake acts of kindness for them, which may range from praying for them to making them a meal. Mere talk or mere emotions are not love.
This also means that while we may not like someone we can still love them - by undertaking loving actions for them. This may sound strange, but we can love without liking. And sometimes we must do that.
God's love is not defined by the response of the one loved. God loves the unlovely, the ungrateful, the unlovable! Every day he sends the sun and rain to people who do not even acknowledge him or thank him.
How easy it is for our love for someone to be shaped by their attitude towards us, but to love someone as God loves them is to love them no matter what their attitude to us is.
God's love is sacrificial. Nothing so defines God's love as the word "sacrifice." God did not undertake an easy act of love, he planned and executed the most sacrificial act one could imagine. He gave up his one and only Son to pain, suffering and ultimately death for the sake of those who he loved. This kind of love is simply unknown on earth.
It does however mean that when we feel we have given all we can to love someone, there is most probably always further we can go, if we rely on God's power to love.
Summing it All Up
Incredible though it may seem, the love of God has been poured into the heart of every true believer, by the power of God's Spirit (Romans 5:5). Believers have the resources to love far more than the world can ever love, and far more than we often imagine we can love.
But Love is most supremely seen in the love of God for sinners who not deserving anything but condemnation are given the gift of eternal life instead.
A SONG FOR THE DAY
How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss –
The Father turns His face away,
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory.
Behold the man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders;
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished;
His dying breath has brought me life –
I know that it is finished.
I will not boast in anything,
No gifts, no power, no wisdom;
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer;
But this I know with all my heart –
His wounds have paid my ransom.
You can sing it HERE.
A PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Our loving Father in heaven,
We thank you for your love for us. In view of your mercy towards us we want to lay down our lives in daily sacrificial living, head, heart, hands and feet.
We thank you for the cross where your love was poured out for us.
We thank you that your love is forever, that we are loved with everlasting love.
We know we cannot repay your love but we want to respond in praise and with a life of worship.
Help us to love like you. We know that we have no ability in ourselves to do this, so we ask for the power of your Holy Spirit to enable us to love.
We ask this in Jesus Name,
Amen
Photo by Mayur Gala on Unsplash
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