Devotion

Are You Sure You Love God?
We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. --- 1 John 4:19-21

Do you really love God? If you answered 'yes' to the question, I believe you mean it. However, if you and I are willing to truthfully admit - sometimes, maybe even a lot of times - we don't fully love God as we should. We love God according to the way we love people. It is easy-peasy to love people on our own terms. As long as no one crosses us or a member of our family, or does anything toward or against us that we don't approve of - we can be cool. Isn't that how we think? We've got that formula all wrong. We have a command to match the love that Jesus demonstrated toward us. God knew there would be nothing easy-peasey about the suffering and crucifixion Jesus went through on the cross for us even while we were yet sinners. He did it anyway...and we are still sinners...and He still deeply loves us. He doesn't like the sin we do, but He looks beyond it and continues to love us deeply. That is what we are commanded to do with each other. When God tells us to love Him by loving our brothers and sisters, He deserves all of our love - even if they are difficult to love, or if we feel like we have a valid reason to withhold our love from them. By the way - we can't withhold what isn’t ours in the first place. God is Love. God loves us. Because we love God, we love our brothers and sisters...all of them..no…matter…how…fickle…we…may…feel! I can tell that some of us are going to need some extended time to meditate on and obey this command! Think about it this way: Would you rather pick and choose how you love God and have Him call you a liar? Or - would you rather ask God to help you learn to obey His command of love, bless His name, and prove the devil to be a liar? I love you my brothers and sisters, because I most certainly do love God!