1 Peter 4:8
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
The year is winding down pretty fast, and the devotionals as we head into the last few days of 2017 will be a lot about self-reflections nd direction. Taking the word of God and allowing it to influence how we live, how we speak, and everything we do. One of the greatest messages the bible teaches us is love, to love God first then love people. God loves us with an unconditional love, a love that covers our sins and a love that forgives. A love that would send His son to die on a cross for us. God commands us to love one another. Love is the one thing that has the power to break down barriers, stop hate, the power of love is greater than many of us will ever realize, because when we speak of the power of love we speak of the power of God because He is love. The power of love is evident when we are reminded of a perfect man name Jesus who hung on a cross in order to save humanity from our sinful nature. That;s the love that covered a multitude of sins. With the way things are going in the world right now, not just in America but everywhere we turn, we can see that this world needs love, if we need anything we need love. We need to love one another, we need to love our enemies, we need to love ourselves. Love is what we need. We need to be drowning in love and pouring buckets of it on our peers.
One thing I want to point out is that Jesus love was unconditional, it was almost as if He did not care about what people had done because He was willing to forgive them. He came with he purpose of redemption, so even the people who nailed Him to a cross would in some way take part in the salvation He had to offer. Love didn't care about what they had done in the past, all that mattered was now and how we are going to live in the future. Jesus healed countless people who were considered sinners, and hung out with people who were said to be the worst types of sinners. Now most would think that a man like Jesus would have nothing to do with such people. But no, those are the ones He came for. He came for the ones that people described as hard to love, the ones no one wanted to go near. He came for the one outcast by society and the ones who were said to be the biggest sinners of all sinners. His love extended to even them, the same way it extended to the ones who considered themselves righteous, and blameless without fault. I want to challenge you to love people the same way.
Love people earnestly, compassionately, unconditionally. As we start a new year walk in love. Walk in unconditional love. Extending the same kind of love that Jesus extended to us. Let love overcome. Let love allow you to forgive. I know that many of us have been hurt by people and betrayed and people have just done things to us that make us not want to love them, or forgive them. But let the love that is in you be bigger than the anger and stringer than the grudges we hold so often. Think about how much Jesus loves us and how much we have done to hurt Him, yet He would die on a cross for us all over again if He had to. Let's love that way. A crucifixion type of love, that the very people that nail you to a cross you will pray to God for their forgiveness. That's how we should love people. It's also how we should love ourselves. God made us worthy of love, why do we so often act like love is not for us. Why do we think we cannot love ourselves. You are love and you deserve to be loved.
Response/Prayer Time
Take the time to respond to what we discussed today. Have a conversation with God about love!
I love you! I hope you have a wonderful day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 362!
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