“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”
December 7, 2021
If you love Jesus, you’re going to love the Church. It is because of the nature of the Christian. What is the nature of the Christian? The nature of the Christian is the nature of God. Today’s verse helps us understand both the nature of God and the nature of those who belong to Him.
If you wanted to tell someone what God is like, you’d likely say, “God is love.” Now notice John’s logic. God is love. We are born of God. That is, we have the nature of God. Now, if God is love and I have the nature of God, then I will have love in me. If I don’t have love in me, I don’t have the nature of God. If I don’t have the nature of God, I haven’t been born of God.
Journal some ways your life shows fruit of your relationship with God. Be honest with yourself. You hurt rather than help yourself if you try to come up with things you wish were true but are not yet. Ask God to help you assess yourself rightly and respond to Him in accordance with reality.
I try to unplug each morning with Jesus with just my rocking chair, my Bible, and a pen.
Having a secret place is very important because I know that Jesus is always there waiting for me. I know where I can find Him! His presence is everywhere, but there are places where it is so thick you can cut it with a knife. You may not even have a front porch, but there is a secret place for you as well. God’s invitations are for anyone who will respond. There is no more important request than the one found in Psalm 27:8: “My heart has heard You say, ‘Come and talk with Me.’ And my heart responds, ‘Lord, I am coming.’”