{"id":236,"date":"2008-06-10T06:00:14","date_gmt":"2008-06-10T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devonline.us\/dailyevotional\/archives\/236"},"modified":"2008-06-10T06:03:46","modified_gmt":"2008-06-10T13:03:46","slug":"secure-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/secure-love\/","title":{"rendered":"“SECURE LOVE!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 John 3:16-18<\/strong><\/p>\n

“This is how we know what love is; Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.\u00a0And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.\u00a0If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?\u00a0Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yesterday I shared how we can prevent our joy being taken away from us.\u00a0Joy is a choice that we make, based upon the Word of God and with the Holy Spirit enabling us to live above the pains and trials of life.\u00a0Whoops!\u00a0I said that wrong, and that is the problem that we all too often encounter.\u00a0We want to be above the circumstances<\/strong>, but the Lord tells us to go through<\/em> the circumstances with rejoicing<\/strong>.\u00a0That is the difference that matters!<\/p>\n

Today, let’s take a look at love.\u00a0It is a topic that many talk about, but it is a concept that is often very superficial and surface.\u00a0What is God’s view of love, and what does He teach us about love?\u00a0Love is not an option—it is a command!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The last sentence in today’s verses, says we are NOT<\/strong> to love with \u201cwords or tongue<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0Does that shock you?\u00a0Does that mean we do not enjoy hearing those three special words that make us feel complete: “I love you!”\u00a0What about those special cards with hearts and flowers, and a scribbled “I love you!”\u00a0note at the bottom?\u00a0You mean that is not love?!!!\u00a0What am I going to do?\u00a0How can I share my love for my beloved without words?\u00a0<\/p>\n

I hope you\u00a0see where this is leading.\u00a0It is actions <\/em>that count.<\/strong>\u00a0LOVE IS NOT A DEFINITION, IT IS AN ACTION!\u00a0<\/p>\n

I once heard about a couple who went to see a counselor about the problems in their marriage.\u00a0The wife complained that he never told her he loved her.\u00a0The husband interrupted and said; “I told that woman 40 years ago I loved her.\u00a0I haven’t taken my words back, so it’s still in effect!”\u00a0Right!\u00a0That silly illustration demonstrated that his actions revealed a callous indifference and not love.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Scripture teaches that love without action is not love at all.\u00a0John uses Christ as the great example of love.\u00a0His love was demonstrated by His sacrificial death on the cross.\u00a0He died, not for His sins, but for my sins — and your sins.\u00a0His sacrificial love was so great that words cannot express it.\u00a0It is “better felt than telt.”\u00a0Bad grammar but good theology!<\/p>\n

John urges us to lay down our life for our brothers, and our sisters, and even our enemies.\u00a0This is a wordless, speechless love that transmits volumes.\u00a0It is pure love when we die to our own desires and needs, to give to others.\u00a0To say I love you and then give nothing of yourself, is not just an empty comment, it is deception and is meaningless.<\/p>\n

In the 21st chapter of John’s Gospel,\u00a0he relates the third incident where Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection and before His ascension into heaven.\u00a0They had been fishing with no luck, until He told them how to fish. (Go read it for yourself). He greeted them with a warm fire, bread and baked fish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Remember that Peter had denied Jesus three times on the night He was crucified.\u00a0Now Jesus speaks to Peter with three questions:\u00a0“Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me? Peter responded half-heartedly to the first two questions, before giving a totally committed response of love.\u00a0In each case, Jesus told him to: feed My lambs, take care of My sheep, and feed My sheep.\u00a0Notice that Peter’s expressions of love were not enough.\u00a0He was required to demonstrate his love by the giving of himself.<\/p>\n

We will show our love by giving ourself away.\u00a0When you give someone something, they cannot steal it from you–you have given it to them.\u00a0We must love when it is not easy to love.\u00a0When we love the very ones who have hurt us, we are giving love and we keep that love.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Corey Ten Boom, tells of meeting one of\u00a0the Nazi prison guards who had served in the dreaded prison camp where she spent many years during WWII.\u00a0She at first was filled with bitterness, but by giving him her love and forgiveness, she kept her love.<\/p>\n

I know this sounds crazy, but the walk with the Son of God, who is our personal Savior, is not to be explained in human reasoning.\u00a0We become citizens of a new kingdom.\u00a0We are able to endure all of the weapons the enemy hurls against us, and respond in love and joy!\u00a0JESUS WINS!<\/p>\n

Blessings dear hearts.\u00a0Walk with God today.\u00a0Trust Him completely and be a blessing.<\/p>\n

— Pastor Cecil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 John 3:16-18 “This is how we know what love is; Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.\u00a0And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.\u00a0If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?\u00a0Dear children, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-e-votionals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}