Love and Be Loved #144

1 John 4:7-8
To you who are loved, be loving in retur, for the power to be loving is from God; and everyone who is loving is born of God and knows god. If you are not loving you do not know God for God is loving. (My paraphrase)

1 Corinthians 13:3
But now faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (NAS)

The greatest virtue in the world is love, because it is the expresion of God; because He is Love. The Bible presents the three great virtues of faith, hope and love and declares love to be the greatest. Jesus taught you the way to love. He simply says;

John 13:34
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." (NAS)

The qualification of your love for another is "as Jesus loved you." Jesus goes so far as to say the way people will know if you are truly a disciple of Jesus is that you love others.

John 13:35
"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (NAS)

Two scriptures will give you insight into what love means.

Romans 15:7
"Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God." (NAS)

Ephesians 4:32b
"forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." (NAS)

The Bible teaches clearly that to be loving is to be accepting and forgiving. Jesus did both for you. He accepted you and received you as His child. He also forgave you of your sin and gave you a new life. Praise the name of Jesus for His love and in return be a loving person by accepting and forgiving others.

____________________Today's personal note from Dennis

Greetings from Starbucks in Springfield, MO.

Sandy and I have had a wonderful time visiting in MO. We had a couple of days with my Dad in Eldon. My Dad is doing very well. It was great to visit with him.

I was able to preach at First Baptist Church in Crane, MO on Sunday. We also spent some time with our friends, the Dempseys in Cape Fair, MO. Now we are at Sandy's brother's home in Springfield. We have had the opportunity of seeing some friend here also.

It had been my plan to fish at Table Rock Lake in Branson while here, but the lake is twelve feet above flood stage and we couldn't even get to the paring lot at the marina. The flooding in this part of the country has been devastating. Many people have lost property and homes. The tornadoes have cost hundreds of lives.

I will be preaching at Northpointe Baptist Church in Chandler, AZ on Sunday. Looking forward to being back at that wonderful church. The following weekend Sandy and I will be in Golden Valley, AZ. They have a Saturday night service and two Sunday services. Golden Valley is near Kingman, AZ.

I pray that God will bless your life today. Trust Him with something you are struggling with in your life and allow Him to meet your need. God is great, loving and desires to show His love to you. Learn to be a receiver of His love.

May God bless you this week with His gift of Love. ~ DGW