Lord, thank you for once again having the opportunity to read and reflect on your wonderful Word. Encourage us as we meditate on this passage from First John chapter 4. Amen 1 John 4:10-12 (NIV)
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.
On Sunday our pastor powerfully suggested that unless we comprehend and understand the enormity of our sin, our need for forgiveness and the price that Jesus paid on the cross to make that forgiveness available to each one of us, we might have a difficult time forgiving others and ourselves.
The passage for today suggests a similar theme except that the concept in today’s passage is love. In essence our Lord is telling us that loving others as He desires is virtually impossible until we comprehend the enormity of God’s love for us in the sacrifice of His only Son. It is only through understanding and experiencing God’s unmerited love for us that we are empowered to love others.
I pray today that God’s gift of grace will be made real in our lives so that we are able to love and forgive as Jesus intends. The renewal for which we pray is all God’s work. Everything we need has been accomplished at the cross. He alone, by His Spirit, enables us to live out the very thing He requires. As we do, He promises to come and complete in us the very love and forgiveness that we need to be salt and light in the world
Lord, thank you for the cross. Thank you for making us your own. Thank you for enabling us to forgive and love others as you forgive and love each one of us. Amen
John