Sunday, October 11, 2015

Devotion: Father's Faithfulness


There appears to be some question as to the love that God has for his creation.  So many believers, as well as many non-believers, have this impression that God, in some way, is completely responsible for all the bad that is seen the world through.  Many share the belief that God, whom some see as this unfair dictatorial deity, uses such events to either punish his creation, to teach his creation some type of lesson, or for some other kind of purpose only know to him.  However, the truth of the matter is that God, who is love, truly loves his creation and would never do anything to harm it.

“Dear friends, let us practice loving each other, for love comes from God and those who are loving and kind show that they are the children of God, and that they are getting to know him better.  But if a person isn’t loving and kind, it shows that he doesn’t know God—for God is love.  God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into this wicked world to bring to us eternal life through his death.  In this act we see what real love is: it is not our love for God but his love for us when he sent his Son to satisfy God’s anger against our sins.”

“Dear friends, since God loved us as much as that, we surely ought to love each other too.  For though we have never yet seen God, when we love each other God lives in us, and his love within us grows ever stronger.  And he has put his own Holy Spirit into our hearts as a proof to us that we are living with him and he with us.  And furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now tell all the world that God sent his Son to be their Savior.  Anyone who believes and says that Jesus is the Son of God has God living in him, and he is living with God.”

“We know how much God loves us because we have felt his love and because we believe him when he tells us that he loves us dearly.  God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him.  And as we live with Christ, our love grows more perfect and complete; so we will not be ashamed and embarrassed at the day of judgment, but can face him with confidence and joy because he loves us and we love him too.”

“We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly; his perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us.  If we are afraid, it is for fear of what he might do to us and shows that we are not fully convinced that he really loves us.  So you see, our love for him comes as a result of his loving us first.”

“If anyone says “I love God,” but keeps on hating his brother, he is a liar; for if he doesn’t love his brother who is right there in front of him, how can he love God whom he has never seen?  And God himself has said that one must love not only God but his brother too” (I John 4:7-21 TLB).

God is love and he loves you.  He has forgiven you of your darkest moments, during your darkest hours.  He has forgiven you of all of your failures and all of your shortcomings.  The truth is, there is nothing that you could have done that would change God’s love for you and nothing done that you cannot be forgiven of (Hebrews 8:10).  You just need to believe (John 3:16-18).  That is all that is required.  If your trust him, he will do the rest.  Won’t you give it a try?  His kind of love just might surprise you.

May today’s inspirational message abundantly bless you and greatly inform you.  We pray that you will be the better for having read it.  If blessed by today’s message, please share so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.

Enjoy your blessings - KW

2 comments:

  1. I think that people struggle with God's love because they equate it with the love that they are accustomed to--a worldly love. God's love, also referred to as agape love is not the same. Agape love is a love that never changes, it not conditioned upon emotions or events, is a forgiving love. On the other hand, worldly love is variable, changing with emotions, dependent on what the other person does, or how I am feeling at the time. It can be unforgiving.

    It is hard to understand God's constant love when we are bombarded with the world's temporary and ever changing love. When we can grasp even one iota of what His love means then we will see changes in ourselves and how we treat others. Thank you for your thoughts on this subject. Be blessed and be a blessing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, they are greatly appreciated.

      Blessings,
      KW

      Delete