Father, Thank You for Being Perfect In Love – 30 Days of Thanksgiving – Day 7
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. – 1 John 4:7-12
Did you notice two really important truths about love from the passage above? God is the source of love and the giver of love. In other words, we can’t fully understand, receive, or give love apart from Him. Because we were made in His image, we were all made with the capacity to love and with natural affections. But, you can also notice from the passage above that human love and divine love responds very differently. That is because God’s love is holy, and not a love that has been corrupted by sin. (You can find an entire post series on love and the correlation of faith and hope here.)
Because of God’s unconditional, perfect love for His world, He sent His only Son to rescue us from our sin and poured His love into our hearts! He is working in His children to bear the fruit of love in our lives so that we become more and more like Jesus Christ-Love incarnate-each day.
PRAISE: Praise God for defining and being defined by love and for making His love known to you.
THANKSGIVING: Thank God for pouring out His love on you. Think of tangible ways that He has shown His love for you.
CONFESSION: Ask God to forgive you for seeking to know love outside of Him. Confess where you have withheld God’s love from others, and ask for His Holy Spirit to love through you today so that others may experience His love as well.
FURTHER STUDY: Breathe in God’s truth about His love found within His Word, and respond to Him accordingly.
1 John 4:7-21; Romans 12:9-21; 1 Corinthians 13; Romans 13:8-10
