Title: We were Born Again to Be Love to Others
Text:
1 John 4:7-11 (ESV)
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Observation:
How can you tell a genuine believer? Our text tells us that God is love, and whoever has been born of God and knows God demonstrates it by loving one another.
The Apostle Peter says it like this; every believer has the divine nature of God; it is His gift to His people.
2 Peter 1:4 (NLT)
4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires.
God's nature is love. The bible says God's gives this gift to His children. Only God in us enables us to love others in the manner that God has loved us.
Romans 5:5 (ESV)
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Can others tell that you are a child of God by the way you love one another? We are not to be a reservoir for that love; rather, we are to be a river where that love flows out of us into the lives of others.
John 13:35 (ESV)
35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, my dear Father, I am so thankful for the gift of love that you have given your people. Father, help us to love one another in the same manner that we have been loved. Father, make your people channels of blessings in the lives of others. Father, we need an outpouring of the love of God in these trying times. In Jesus name, Amen.
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Acts 6:4 (KJV)
4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
My blog: Sharing the Word of God Daily:
http://herbcotton.blogspot.com/
I wrote this post almost one year ago. So grateful for the person that read it today; when I saw the notification I was so thankful that the Holy Spirit, who lives in me, prompted me to click the link and read it.
ReplyDeleteMy prayer is that the Lord would work through me today so that others would see the love of God demonstrated through my expressions of "Love in Action ...". Love is a verb; love is something you do. Do some act of love to someone today.
Romans 5:5 (NLT)
And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
Be a river, not a reservoir; let God's love that is in you flow out of you to some needy person today, and every day.