How God Shows Love

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Scripture: 1 John 4:9-10 (NIV)

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.

Devotion:

These words from the Apostle John show us the depth of God’s love for us. In His grace, He sent Jesus to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. We do well to ponder that statement. God shows us love in a way that we, for the most part, are unable to show to others in any self-sacrificial way. We are always selfish, loving others for our own purposes. God’s love is selfless, always giving Himself away for sinners.

This scripture before us today clearly states that we have a relationship with God, not through any merit of our own, but through the self-giving love of the Father. The Father loved the Son so much that He could part with the Son only for our salvation. We are truly in debt to God because He paid a debt we could never pay. And even if we could somehow pay it, we wouldn’t because of our selfish nature.

As Paul wrote in Romans 7, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! We should always be full of thanksgiving, as Paul writes here, because we only have the hope of life eternal with God in heaven through the work John describes here in these verses. Jesus is our hope, and in Him we find salvation for our souls. Through the death of Jesus, God has begun to bring His visible kingdom to earth.

We can rejoice in hope since we have received such a great salvation. There is no longer any charge against us. Though we have strayed like lost sheep, the great shepherd of our souls has rescued us from our own destruction and brought us into the kingdom He is building here on earth. Let us glorify His name in prayer and praise.

Prayer:

Father, we praise your name with Apostle John, who wrote these words for us. Receive our prayer of thanksgiving for the atoning death of Jesus for us. Thank you for inaugurating your kingdom here on earth. May we be an active participant in bringing your rule to earth. Let all people know of your wonderful plan for everyone through your son, Jesus. Amen.

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