Friday, March 10 – 1 John 4:16

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

There is a difference between expressing loving for someone and acting in accordance with our love for them. We really love our spouses, our kids, or our friends but not every action we take or thing we say represents that love. In this passage, we are reminded to stay steadfast in the love God has called us to. When we first came to faith, we likely felt the Father’s love clearly. In these seasons, most of us find it natural to express our love for God. But as we become stuck in the motions of life, distracted, or stop investing in our relationship with Christ, we can forget that first love. We can find ourselves living in accordance to love for the things of this world instead of our love for Him.

May God open our eyes to the areas where we have lost sight of His love. It is possible to do many things in His name that are not in accordance with His love. As we remain steadfast in His love, He remains in us also. He does not leave us to express His love on our own strength. How would your life change if you were consumed by His love each day? John continued later in this passage to remind us of this challenge and opportunity, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and yet he hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God must also love his brother and sister” (1 John 4:20-21). May we remain in his transforming, seeking to live marked by loving others sacrificially as our Father has loved us.

• When have you clearly realized how amazing God’s love is?
• Who do you know who lives a life of remaining in God’s love? How might you encourage them and/or learn from them?
• Pray and ask God to help you remain in His love.