Devotion:
Read 1 John 4:9-12.
This passage connects very effectively with what we read yesterday from Psalm 103. Since the love of God causes God to not treat us as our sins warrant us to be treated, we who are the representatives of this God are called to let this love more and more grow in us so that we do not treat others as their sins deserve.
So this writer of the letters of John is encouraging that very thing: “let us love one another, for love comes from God.” This God overcame our sin by sending his Son into the world to save us and allow us to “live through him.” In other words, God sacrificed a part of God’s self to overcome the many ways that we hurt and go against God. Why? Because of a love that is just that deep and high and wide.
Is it hard to love in this way? Definitely. When people do and say things that hurt you, sometimes very deeply, it is hard to forgive them. It is hard to love them. That’s why we need divine help. We cannot do this on our own.
In the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, he included a request to “forgive us….as we forgive (others).” Would we dare pray “love us as we love others”? Maybe that one needs to be “help us love others as you love us.”
Personal Worship Option:
Offer a prayer that expresses your desire to grow in God’s love in your relationships with other people. You might even want to name one or two of those “other people.”
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