Daily Devotion (July 5, 2024)
1 John 4:9–10
9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Ever feel as though no one loves you. Or maybe the feeling is you have been abandoned by the world. There is an emptiness in your soul, your spirit. It may be that you have the eerie feeling that there is no one left in your life that even knows you are alive. Life is difficult.
There are so many who walk through this world feeling abandoned. Maybe the problem is not other people.
Christians are privileged people. Christians have the love of God living in them. Christians never walk alone. At the end of the Jerry Lewis telethon, he would sing “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” As a Christian you will never walk alone. You may be surrounded by a thousand people and feel you are alone. But remember God walks beside you and in you. People will hurt you, blame you, curse you, and use you. God’s love will never abandon you.
God proved His love toward us. God not only sent His only begotten Son into the world but allowed His Son, Jesus, to die for our sin. Christ became sin for us so we might have a relationship with God. (2 Corinthians 5:21, ”For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”)
True love is not static. True love is constantly being proved. God’s love was proved before the cross and on the cross and now in the lives of His people.
How do we know God loves us? He did not send Jesus to die for the godly. He sent His Son to die, to sacrifice Himself for the ungodly, the lost. If God can love the ungodly, those who hate Him should we not also love the lost, those who hate us. Should we, as Christians, reach out to the world and proclaim the love of God. Sometimes we walk into a cold and damp sanctuary filled with people proclaiming Jesus’ love. God’s love is not cold nor damp. God’s love is burning with the purifying blood of Jesus.
John 3:16