Dear Lord God, we come before You in worship and praise, for You are the orchestrator of Your creation. Be with us as we spend time with You, and guide us to what You want to show us.
John is deeply grieved by those who hated brothers and sisters in the Christian family at that time. I suspect they are the ones who left the fellowship and of whom John said they never actually believed or they would have behaved differently. Let’s face it. Not everyone who goes to church is all that lovable. Right? Church is a place where people of all socio-economic backgrounds, all levels of intellectual giftedness, and all levels of practical skills exist together. We aren’t all alike, and some of the folks in the church are going to be hard to read, hard to love, and hard to understand. And that’s the beauty of it. We get the chance to learn how to love by being with people who are not like us. What we have in common – a commitment to Christ and a surrendered heart to His Spirit – is so much greater than any differences. Learning to live and love in community is the best way to become more holy. Even if sometimes it hurts! So … let’s pray that God will teach us how to love others more and more, better and better, as the Holy Spirit refines us and makes us more like the One we follow, who loves us to the utmost. And let’s be sensitive to the Spirit when we recognize a bitter root growing in our hearts toward another. Here it is, straight from our beloved disciple John: “And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us” (1 John 3:23 NLT).
My verse: 1 John 3:16, “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.”
My response: Thank You, Lord, for all the times when a sister in Christ has given up her free time to help me, cook for me, text me, and love on me. Father, in big and small ways, teach me to lay down my selfishness and give to others as You gave so fully to me.
What’s next?
As the Spirit leads, share what He has laid on your heart in the comment section below. Then join us again tomorrow for the next commentary.
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1 John 3:23 ESV
[23] And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
https://bible.com/bible/59/1jn.3.23.ESV
Love God and love people. Easy to say harder to do. Lord, help me love others as you love them.
You got that right! It is sometimes really hard to get past the hurt or confusion people can stir up in us and … love them anyways. Only by God’s grace and in His power …