Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
November 3, 2024
1 John 3:16-24
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Good Morning! Hallelujah to the Saints who blazed the trail!
“Love one another!” Jesus taught us how to love with actions and in truth. It is easy to speak of love, but we are challenged to love like Jesus loves us. Jesus loves all God’s children, including those who are afflicted, the outcasts, the poor, and those who look, sound, or act differently than we do.
Jesus doesn’t cast aside the nonconformists! He offers God’s love, peace, and grace to all and infuses those who believe in him with the Holy Spirit. Novelists write of Utopian societies where all are exactly the same in thought, word, and deed. We have seen the disastrous efforts of people who have tried to eradicate those who were different so they could create a master race.
God created us all and blessed us as unique beings to whom he grants free will. In response to God’s gifts, we are commanded to love God with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Remember when the Pharisees tried to trick Jesus into a specific definition of neighbors? Jesus answered with the Parable of the Good Samaritan: 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
There are no if, ands, or buts within the description of neighbor. We are to share God’s love, mercy, and grace with all, just as Jesus does for us.
Dear Lord, We are your children! We sometimes forget to bless all our neighbors. Thank you for reminding us to share God’s love, mercy, and grace with all. Thank you! In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: Act towards others as we wish Jesus to act towards us!
Jesus blesses all God’s children! Pastor Liz
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