Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and
WEEK 13
LOVING WITH A HEAVENLY LOVE
1 JOHN 4:7-19
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in 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, because fear involves punishment, and the one
who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.
FATHER, Your love "has been poured out within our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who was given to us,"1
and we confess that the only reason we love at all
is because You first loved us. Your love enables us to love You and one another
in a way that is beyond human capacity. Magnify that love in our hearts,
and enlarge our hearts in the process.
We thank You for loving us into Your family and kingdom. As we come before You now, fill us with that heavenly love
so that our worship will be a foretaste of true heavenly praise. Give us Christlike love for one another—
the love that takes up towel and basin
and gladly serves in the lowliest place. Give us grace to render that service and sacrifice
with overflowing joy and true humility. Empower us to encourage and love one another
and give of ourselves freely, just as Christ did for us. May we see beyond the faces of those whom we serve—
as blessed, beloved, and precious as they may be— and may we look to You, the One whom we are to love
with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.2
And so may we truly minister to one another as unto the Lord.3
Help us to love You more. Free us from the grip of trivial worldly attractions
that vie for our affections. Show us in the process the vanity of our sins
and the barrenness of this world's values,
and cause us to fix our affections on heavenly things.4
May our daily walk thus bring us
ever nearer to the cross and ever closer to heaven!
Spirit of God, write abiding truths on our hearts
through our study of Your Word this day. Nourish our souls with the food that is needful for us5—
the food that endures to eternal life.6
We praise You and find our greatest joy and peace
in Jesus' name. Amen.
1. Romans 5:5 2. Mark 12:30 3. Colossians 3:23 4. Colossians 3:2 5. Proverbs 30:8 6. John 6:27