Be Loved

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Scripture: Galatians 2:20 (ESV)

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Devotion:

            Here in Galatians Paul is explaining how he is able to live out the love of God in his life. He states that when he came to believe that Jesus was the messiah he was crucified with Christ into his suffering and death on the cross. Now Paul has by faith in Christ the fullness of Christ living in him. This is a first step in spiritual growth. Realizing that we are not our own, but we were bought with the blood of Christ. As the Apostle John wrote in his first letter “we love because he first loved us.”

            This is a revolutionary idea. That we do not have to work ourselves up to love God and others as is commanded in scriptures. We can instead realize that Christ loves us and fills us up with his love so that we may return that love to him and the world. We can love the world regardless of how we are treated by the world. If we suffer, we know that Jesus suffered and indeed died on the cross for us so that we can endure any suffering that comes our way.

            One can’t help but remember John 3:16 here. That God so loved the world that he gave his only son to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. That is to lead a perfect and sinless life so that we can be filled with that depth of love for our neighbors. As Paul says in Galatians above that because of that great love with which God has loved us we can live lives filled with the love of God. We must realize that we are truly loved by God.

            We are truly beloved by God. We are told as much in almost every book in the Bible. We just need to put down our defenses and accept the love that comes to us from God. Then we can say with Paul that “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” When we have that love of Christ living within us, we can be confident in our ability to treat others with the same love with which Christ has loved us. Thus, we can be assured that we will be a good witness for Christ to the watching world.

Prayer:

            Holy and Loving God, we come before you today with joyful hearts as we begin to realize how much you love us. We give you thanks and praise with all of our hearts that you sent Christ to love us even unto death. We thank you that we have been raised to a life like his that we may love you Lord and our neighbors with a self-sacrificing love. May all humankind praise you for the wonderful things you have done for us. Amen

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