"O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." John 17:25-26 (NKJV)
Imagine for just a moment standing before God at the end of your life. The shear magnitude of undefiled truth flows through you to search the deepest parts of your soul. What sounds like the soft rumble of thunder resonates deep within your mind as you realize He has asked you this question, "Did You Learn How To Love?"
I don't know if this will be the first thing our Heavenly Father will say or not, but I think its a fair question for us to stop and ponder. When we look at the Bible we can see God's amazing message of love for us. We see it from His gift of creation for us to enjoy to His willingness to send His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die for us while we were yet sinners (Rom. 5:8). Jesus taught us how to love by example, and when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, we can read His response in Matthew 22:37-39.
Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Matthew 22:37-39 (NKJV)
We can also see Jesus speaking to His disciples about love as well when he told them, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35).
God is love. And it is His desire for us to become like Him and to imitate Him in loving others. It is a different kind of love than we are accustomed to because it is a selfless love; willing to do whatever is best for the one who is loved, regardless of what it costs us. Our natural fleshly nature is selfishness, whereas God's is selflessness.
My heart for writing this is for all of us to consider what it means to love in the way God loves. It is to challenge us to begin to look at things closer and to be totally honest with ourselves about our actions, motives, responses, conversations and our goals for everything we do in our lives. We cannot do this apart from God (John 15:5), but we can do it through the strength of our Lord if we earnestly seek Him and ask for His guidance, and help.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)
I want to encourage you to meditate upon these things today. Let's make it our hearts desire to allow the Lord to transform our heart to be more like His. Let's choose to look to the best interests of others when we have the opportunity to bless them. Let's continue to read our Bibles so we can thoroughly understand the heart of Jesus and make it our goal to imitate Him (Eph. 5:1).
STUDY QUESTION: According to the Scriptures contained within this devotional, what can we learn about loving others?
PERSONAL INVENTORY: Are you willing to allow God to change any area within your heart so you can love others in the same way He loves them?
APPLICATION: Let's make it our goal to look at everything through the screen of doing what is best for others regardless of what it costs us, and allow the Lord to lead us in our actions.
Imagine for just a moment standing before God at the end of your life. The shear magnitude of undefiled truth flows through you to search the deepest parts of your soul. What sounds like the soft rumble of thunder resonates deep within your mind as you realize He has asked you this question, "Did You Learn How To Love?"
I don't know if this will be the first thing our Heavenly Father will say or not, but I think its a fair question for us to stop and ponder. When we look at the Bible we can see God's amazing message of love for us. We see it from His gift of creation for us to enjoy to His willingness to send His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die for us while we were yet sinners (Rom. 5:8). Jesus taught us how to love by example, and when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, we can read His response in Matthew 22:37-39.
Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Matthew 22:37-39 (NKJV)
We can also see Jesus speaking to His disciples about love as well when he told them, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35).
God is love. And it is His desire for us to become like Him and to imitate Him in loving others. It is a different kind of love than we are accustomed to because it is a selfless love; willing to do whatever is best for the one who is loved, regardless of what it costs us. Our natural fleshly nature is selfishness, whereas God's is selflessness.
My heart for writing this is for all of us to consider what it means to love in the way God loves. It is to challenge us to begin to look at things closer and to be totally honest with ourselves about our actions, motives, responses, conversations and our goals for everything we do in our lives. We cannot do this apart from God (John 15:5), but we can do it through the strength of our Lord if we earnestly seek Him and ask for His guidance, and help.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)
I want to encourage you to meditate upon these things today. Let's make it our hearts desire to allow the Lord to transform our heart to be more like His. Let's choose to look to the best interests of others when we have the opportunity to bless them. Let's continue to read our Bibles so we can thoroughly understand the heart of Jesus and make it our goal to imitate Him (Eph. 5:1).
STUDY QUESTION: According to the Scriptures contained within this devotional, what can we learn about loving others?
PERSONAL INVENTORY: Are you willing to allow God to change any area within your heart so you can love others in the same way He loves them?
APPLICATION: Let's make it our goal to look at everything through the screen of doing what is best for others regardless of what it costs us, and allow the Lord to lead us in our actions.
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