Reading your Bible for Today March 23

March 23: 1 John 4:7-13

KJV Key Verse: 1 John 4:9
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

Devotion:
Love goes hand in hand with God because it is only through what He has done for us that we know what love is. If He had not created the world, we would not know it. If He had not given us Jesus Christ to die on the cross, we would not be able to join Him in heaven because of our sins. Instead we would still constantly be seeking for the best possible sacrifices to try and appease God. What He gave us was purely out of His love for us; a way by which He would give us the perfect sacrifice so that no other sacrifices would be needed.

We would be perfectly happy if we had all obeyed God in the beginning. We would not have required sacrifices. But we chose to do what we have done and God chose to do what He has done. The difference being, His choice was out of His perfect love for us whereas our choices are out of pride, greed and lust. We chose to do what we have done wrong because we sin. We may have chosen to follow Him now but we first would have been to Him in humility begging forgiveness for the sins that we have done, knowing that He is faithful to forgive!

God has shown us the love He has towards us. That love is an example by which we should aim to love Him and to love one another. We are all God's children because He is our creator. Through His Word and His commandments, we need to take on His examples of love and love Him back, not just as an acquaintance, but as our one true God who we hold above all. We need to follow on with that example of love to those around us, showing them His wonderful love so they too can share in His free gift to us. We need to dwell in Him, which means making Him central to our lives because He wants to dwell with us. He has given us the Holy Spirit so He may dwell in us daily and not just when we are good.

If He is in us daily, we need to show Him respect and follow His Word, His commandments, His will... otherwise we are grieving Him daily.

Points to Ponder:
Do you respect your friends all the time, or only when you are with them?

What do you think about God dwelling within you?