Love
Monday, December 9 1 John 4:7-12
“Let us love one another”
Love is a word about which we makedecisions; it involves our will by which we choose to love others. Why should we make such a decision to loveothers? Because love originates in God,and all who belong to God practice their relationship with him by choosing togive to others that love which God has given to us. To put it negatively: if we choose not tolove others, then we don’t know the God who loves us and sent his Son as asacrifice for us.
We are to love out of the fullness ofGod’s prior love. There is no confusionin John’s order; we do not earn God’s love by our acts of love, but rather itis our experience of God’s love that provides the inner motivation toward lovefor others. It is the kind of love weourselves receive; the love that forgives our sins and identifies with us inour journey. Therefore we have thatexperience of love as the “en route” training in love that enables us toexpress its implications with those around us. Love is not an ideal we strive for; it is a relationship with othersthat we live, a dynamic and growing result of our relationship with JesusChrist.
Teach me to loveothers, Heavenly Father, as you have loved me. Amen.
Tuesday, December 10 1 John 4:13-21
“As we live in God, our love grows more perfect”
God’s love is perfected in us not throughour perception of it or our experience of it, but through our expression ofit. God’s love reaches completion in usby the degree to which it is shared with others. The most immediate result of this is reassurance. We will have boldness or confidence on theDay of Judgment when we meet God. Thisis not irreverence but assurance, not flippancy but forthrightness. Because of his love growing in us, we becomeincreasingly confident that despite our continued life in the world, where weare far from perfect, we are becoming more and more like Christ. On that Day, God will see Christ in us andwill accept us into eternity.
John is not saying that we should practicehuman love in order to grow into divine love. Nor is he saying that human love is the exclusive way we love God. Rather, he is saying that the absence of lovefor one another betrays an absence of love for God. Those who live with this duplicity, sayingthat they love God but in their hearts hate some human being, are (in John’sunyielding words) “liars.”
Perfect your lovein me, Lord, as I express it through my love for others. Amen.
Wednesday, December 11 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
“Love is . . . ”
In verses 1-3 Paul argues for the absolutenecessity of love, because even the most amazing and wonderful gifts andabilities are worthless if they are not given and practiced in love. Next Paul turns to a description of love inverses 4-8. While it may be hard todefine love, it is easy to recognize it by the way it acts.
In fifteen succinct phrases Paul definesthe principle for relating to others which will utterly transform all humanlife. He is not describing a naturalhuman kind of love but that love which was defined by God’s gift of himself inJesus Christ. If we were to go throughthese four verses and everywhere the word “love” appears substitute the word“Christ,” they would still be true because the kind of love being described islove that has its source in God. And aswe look at each of the phrases it becomes obvious that we are defining a styleof life that is beyond our reach at a human level – something absolutelyimpossible unless God’s Spirit dwells within us and helps us.
Today,Lord, I commit to practicing Christlike love with others. Amen.
Thursday, December 12 Mark 12:28-34
“Love the Lord yourGod . . . love your neighbor as yourself”
Jesus answers the teacher of religiouslaw’s question by reaching back to Deuteronomy 6:4, “The Lord our God is oneLord.” From this foundational truth, heproceeds to the principle of love which connects us to our God by quoting Deuteronomy6:5, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all yoursoul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Jesus then applies the principle of love bymatching it with the commandment in Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love yourneighbor as yourself.” With scarcely abreath in between these three statements, Jesus has summed up the teachings ofthe Old and New Testaments and can now say, “There is no other commandment greaterthan these.”
A dimension of God’s love is missing ifthe love relationship is limited to communion between God and humanity. To make love complete it must flow inperson-to-person relationships. To loveour neighbor as our self is the point of proof that our heart, soul, mind andstrength are being transformed by the love of God.
In the way I love you, my Lord God, may I alsolove my neighbor. Amen.
Friday, December 13 Psalm 36:5-10
“Pour out yourloving-kindness on those who love you”
The psalmistbegins with God’s loving-kindness and faithfulness. These fill the earth and reach up to heaven,thereby transcending all human love and faithfulness. He continues with God’s righteousness,comparing it to the mountains which are a natural emblem of immensity.Judgments, on the other hand - that is, particular acts of God’s righteousdecisions - are likened to the great deep in their vastness and mystery.
Then the psalm transitionsfrom the consideration of God's unapproachable excellence to that of hisprovidential care, which extends to every living thing. The thought of these things makes the psalmistexclaim: "How precious is your loving-kindness!" It is valuable beyond all treasure, since itaffords such a sure and ample protection for all who take refuge beneath God’s outstretchedwings. God is represented as a gracious hostwho provides for all who come to his house and his table. God is the fountain of all life, both physicaland spiritual. He is the source of alllight, and apart from him all is darkness.
Your love for me is amazing, Lord, high andmighty, near and personal. Amen.
Saturday, December 14 Romans 8:35-39
“Nothing can ever separate us from Christ’slove”
Paul addresses the mighty forces thatconfront believers and asks whether any of them can separate us from the loveof Christ. He answers his question bydeclaring that there is nothing that can possibly affect the eternal purposesof God or the undying love of Christ. Even death cannot rob the believer because, as Paul says elsewhere, tobe “absent from the body” is to be “present with the Lord.” Living is “Christ” and to die is “gain.” Life with all its problems holds no terrorfor him because nothing can change God’s decision to love him.
Paul concludes with the words “ChristJesus our Lord.” It is the reigning andruling Lordship of Christ that is fundamental to our salvation, and it is thepersonal aspect of his Lordship, making him “ours,” that brings salvation fromthe realm of religious possibility into our hearts with life-transformingpower. The Lord of all the earth is inus, and there is nothing in all the earth that can overpower his presence. We belong to him today, tomorrow, and intoall eternity. Nothing can change thatreality!
Ibelong to you, Jesus, not because of who I am but because of who you are. Amen.