Skip to main content

Thanksgiving Love - 1 John 4:1 - 21

 Thursday, November 26 –

It is Thanksgiving Day, and you’re up for spending some time reading in God’s word before the day gets busy – bless you.  We’ll continue our reading in 1st John, but the devotional is much shorter.  Please read 1 John 4:1 – 21.  Come back for a short devotional look at what we’ve read.


This section of John begins with a warning to watch out for those who are false teachers and deny who Christ is (4:1-6).  Then in a long section (4:7 – 21) that takes us to the end of the chapter, he wraps up the theme of genuine Christian love.  He reminds us of the importance of loving in a God-oriented way (4:7-10), and brings us back to the reason we can love like this in the love of God for us.

If you are like me, there are times when we wonder if the church can discern the difference between truth and error.  That is what John says in these first verses – a summary from The Message Bible –

“My dear friends, don't believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world… Everyone who confesses openly his faith in Jesus Christ—the Son of God, who came as an actual flesh-and-blood person—comes from God and belongs to God.  And everyone who refuses to confess faith in Jesus has nothing in common with God” (4:1-3).

Whether they write a book, speak on campuses, or preach from a pulpit. There are people who say they are Christians but deny Jesus as God’s Son – as the second person of the Trinity.  They do not have the Spirit of God and they do not know Christ as Savior.  They are being led by the Spirit of Antichrist.

Then John returns us to the number one priority of the life of the believer – to love in a Christ-like way.  Most people would tell you the “love” chapter is 1 Corinthians 13 which speaks of love eight times in thirteen verses.  Yet, 1 John 4 speaks of love twenty-seven times in verses 7 – 21.  Is love a priority for our life in Christ?  Absolutely.  How can we love like Christ?  We focus on his self-sacrificial love for us.  We were loved when we didn’t deserve it, and challenges us to love the same way.  Let me summarize what he is teaching –

1.       God is the source of Love (4:7-10).  “…let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”. 

2.       We love as a way of showing God’s love in us (4:11 – 12) – “… since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us”.

3.       Even though God’s love is perfect, and we cannot love completely as he does, God gives us the Spirit to help practice Godly love (4:13 – 21).  

As we yield ourselves to Christ Jesus, we discover the fruit of the Spirit is producing Godly love in us and helping us to live that love out in our relationships and the world – i.e., “his love is being perfected in us” (4:17).  It’s process, not perfection that is the goal.  The work of the Spirit to live out a Christ-like love is what gives us confidence and courage –

“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.  We love because he first loved us” (4:16-19).

It is easy on Thanksgiving Day to say “I love you” to those who we are grateful for and who have filled our lives with a richness because of their heart for us.  Yet, the love of God transcends those who love us and reaches even to those who we sometimes think are unlovely.  Today, think about one person who has been difficult for you to love, and say a prayer to God, expressing your desire to learn how to love them better.

AND, have a Happy Thanksgiving

Peace

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hands Full of Parcels

"A Man whose hands are full of parcels can't receive a gift."   - C. S. Lewis Romans 4:13-16 (ESV) 13  For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14  For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15  For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 16  That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all... The last four days have been best described by the word "fatigue".  It's not an uncommon word in our vocabulary.  Listless, tired, sore.  1300 miles of car travel, being sick, not sleeping well, and eating poorly all add up to the word - fatigue.   Someone onc...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Tabernacle

The readings today are Exodus 36, 37, 38 I wanted to post some pictures of what these various parts of the Tabernacle looked like. It's not the easiest read in the world, but if you persevere through it, you can get a picture of all the different pieces that made up the tabernacle. It is a replica of the various parts of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness: First thing in the chapter listed is the outside of the tabernacle which consisted of curtains tied together and put on cross bars through loops. Next at the beginning of 37 is the table and lampstand: Also, the altar of incense: And, the altar for the burnt offering which was in the courtyard: Finally, the courtyard which made it all come together: Hope that helps with what it might have all looked like. Most importantly, this was their "place" of worship they were building. I hope you have a great day of worship. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
1 comment
Read more

The difference between defending and explaining

The news of recent has focused the suffering of Christians in the middle east who have been martyred for their faith in Christ at the hands of Islamic Terrorists. Through the centuries many Christians have lost their lives as a result of their faith. For us, who live in America, there is little chance that we would have this happen here - but it's entirely possibly that terrorism will strike out at Christians sometime.  But, for many Christians in the western world - especially here in the U.S. - being a Christians who believes God's word there is a form of persecution that is defined by words like "ostracized", "passed over", "ridiculed", and more. What do we do in the face of opposition to faith? When the Apostle Peter writes to the early believers who are undergoing great pressure, even persecution for their faith in Jesus, he gives them this charge. 1 Peter 3:8-18 8  Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly lov...
1 comment
Read more