Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – December 28, 2017
By Tripp Prince
If you love me, keep my commands. John 14:15
As a culture, we are obsessed with love. We see and hear about it in our movies, music, poetry, and novels, each in their own way telling stories of love and the desire to be loved in return. While love often seems elusive and perplexing, the enduring stories we love most always seem to find love in the end.
The good news of the gospel is a love story. The most famous verse in the Bible reminds us of this. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). And while God’s love for his children is consistent and never fades, the story of the Bible is one in which his children struggle and fail to respond faithfully to this love. This was true then, and in many ways it is true of us still today.
What does it mean for us to faithfully respond to the love of God? Though we’re told that love is often a feeling or emotion, it is also a desire that leads to a certain way of living. If you or I say that we love our spouse, yet we never spend intentional time with them, then our profession of love is empty and hollow. If we say with our lips that we love our children yet consistently are harsh, demanding, and critical, they will never know what it truly means to be loved.
“This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:2-3).
Jesus tells us to love God and love the children of God, and in both cases we prove our love to be true through our faithfulness to his commands. During the Christmas season we celebrate the gift of love that has drawn near to us in the birth of Jesus. Yet if we truly love God, we must respond to his love by living lives that are transformed by his grace. We must pursue an integrated life in which our words and deeds are all moving in the same direction. When we do this, we enter into and are transformed by the greatest love story ever told.
Prayer
Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Amen. (Psalm 119:33-35)Application
Does your profession of love for God and neighbor faithfully align with the life you actually live?Related Reading
Deuteronomy 7:9; Romans 5:8; Galatians 2:20Post/Tweet today
We prove our love to be true through our faithfulness to Christ’s commands. #wisdomhunters #ifyoulovemeWorship Resource
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