To prevent the frustration of falling behind, which most of us tend to do when following a Bible reading plan, each month of this plan gives you only twenty-five readings. Today we start a few “free days” . We encourage you to catch up on any readings you may have missed this month.
If you have finished the month’s readings, you can use these final days of the month to study the passages that challenged or intrigued you.
Daily Devotion
Love One Another
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John13:34-35 NLT
The word love is in the New Testament over 200 times so we can be sure it is an important part of living for God. Over twenty times it says to “love one another”. We often take this to mean we are to love our brothers and sisters in the church. And we should love them, even the difficult ones and those not like us in culture or politics. According to the verse above this is not just a suggestion. It is a commandment. Not just to love but to love as God loves us.
In Romans 12:10 we are told to love preferring one another. Ephesians 4:2 NLT says to “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” But then in 1 Thessalonians 3:12 we are called to a new level. “And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.” This means not just those in the church but all men.
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” Matthew 5:44-45
Now that is a challenge. It is not in our human nature to love our enemies. We can only do this when we allow God’s love to fill our hearts and flow through us. I confess, I don’t know about you; but I still have work to do in this area. Love those who have hurt you in the past? Love your persecutors? Love the addict who curses you in the street? Love the murderers? Love pedophiles? I definitely need to grow in this area. We are to love even the unlovable. This is how they will know God is real and we are His disciples.
Sabina Wurmbrand won a Nazi soldier who bragged of killing her family in a concentration camp to Christ by showing him love. He knew only a real God of love could transform a person enough to love their true enemy.
I challenge you to pick someone you have not shown love to in the past because they are “unlovable” and show them love this week.
“But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.” Luke 6:35
~Kathy Johnson