Bible League: Living His Word Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.— 1 John 4:7-8 NKJV The word of God is the perfect source to know what true love means and how we can learn to love as God loves us. First John 4:7-8 is an instruction to us as Christians, it says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Love has its origin in God because God is love by His very essence. To be effective in our ministry work or our walk with Christ, we have to do everything with love. We impact the world by showing others God's love and this is done by heeding the instruction to love one another. God’s love is agape, which means self-sacrificing and unconditional. Agape loves those who don’t deserve our love, those who disappoint us, mistreat us, reject us, and even hate us. Agape is only possible when it is born of God in our hearts. Agape love is of God, initiated by God. Showing love to one another shows that we are born of Christ. Our actions and speech should be proof that we are Jesus' followers. The greatest act of love that God showed us was giving His only begotten Son Jesus to die for our sins even though He has never sinned. This is the kind of sacrificial love that shows the world who God is in hope that others will repent and experience God’s love and forgiveness. However, we cannot love like Christ unless there is a change of heart through receiving Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. The Lord’s sacrificial love compels us as believers to be able to love other people. In conclusion, God’s word remains the steadfast source of what love is. By Onismo Goronga, Bible League International staff, Zimbabwe Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingNumbers 22, 23, 24 Numbers 22 -- Balak Sends for Balaam; Balaam and the Angel NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Numbers 23 -- The Prophecies of Balaam NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Numbers 24 -- The Prophecy from Peor NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Mark 8:1-21 Mark 8 -- Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand, Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida; Peter's Confession of Christ NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Though we are overwhelmed by our sins,you forgive them all. Insight Although we may feel overwhelmed by the multitude of our sins, God will forgive them all if we ask sincerely. Challenge Do you feel as though God could never forgive you, that your sins are too many, or that some of them are too great? The good news is that God can and will forgive them all. Nobody is beyond redemption, and nobody is so full of sin that he or she cannot be made clean. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon 1 Kings 17:16 The barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.See the faithfulness of divine love. You observe that this woman had daily necessities. She had herself and her son to feed in a time of famine; and now, in addition, the prophet Elijah was to be fed too. But though the need was threefold, yet the supply of meal wasted not, for she had a constant supply. Each day she made calls upon the barrel, but yet each day it remained the same. You, dear reader, have daily necessities, and because they come so frequently, you are apt to fear that the barrel of meal will one day be empty, and the cruse of oil will fail you. Rest assured that, according to the Word of God, this shall not be the case. Each day, though it bring its trouble, shall bring its help; and though you should live to outnumber the years of Methuselah, and though your needs should be as many as the sands of the seashore, yet shall God's grace and mercy last through all your necessities, and you shall never know a real lack. For three long years, in this widow's days, the heavens never saw a cloud, and the stars never wept a holy tear of dew upon the wicked earth: famine, and desolation, and death, made the land a howling wilderness, but this woman never was hungry, but always joyful in abundance. So shall it be with you. You shall see the sinner's hope perish, for he trusts his native strength; you shall see the proud Pharisee's confidence totter, for he builds his hope upon the sand; you shall see even your own schemes blasted and withered, but you yourself shall find that your place of defence shall be the munition of rocks: "Your bread shall be given you, and your water shall be sure." Better have God for your guardian, than the Bank of England for your possession. You might spend the wealth of the Indies, but the infinite riches of God you can never exhaust. Daily Light on the Daily Path Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the innermost parts of his being.John 8:7,9 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." • When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. Genesis 3:11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" James 4:17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. 1 John 3:20,21 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. • Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; Romans 14:20,22 Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. • The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. Psalm 139:23,24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; • And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |