“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” 1 John 3:16 NIV
John draws a sharp, point-for-point contrast between the hatred that marks the world and the love that marks the church. Whereas hatred is typified in Adam’s firstborn, love is fully expressed through Jesus Christ.
Today’s verse can literally read, “By this we have experientially come to know love, that Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.” The cross is the supreme demonstration of what real love – God’s love – is. There is hardly a passage in the New Testament that speaks of God’s love that does not also speak of the cross. The most familiar is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” If we want to know what God’s love is like, look at Jesus, the Righteous One, who willingly sacrificed Himself on behalf of the ungodly. Whereas hatred originates with the devil, the love in us, those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, comes from God, through His indwelling Holy Spirit, who spreads the love of Jesus abroad in our hearts. If we do not demonstrate practical love for those in need, the love of God does not abide in us. If we lack love for someone, let us make sure that we are born of God, ask the Lord to give us His love for them. Hatred divides but the love of Jesus Christ unites.
PRAYER THOUGHT
Holy Spirit, spread the love of Jesus afresh in our hearts today.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Holy Spirit, show us where we lack love for someone, and spread the love of Jesus Christ afresh in our hearts, so that His love will touch the lives of others, for we know that hatred divides, but the love of Jesus Christ unites. AMEN
I.B.R.A. Readings
Luke 10:30-37
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