*DOMINION MANDATE DAILY DEVOTIONAL*

SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 2020

*LOVE ONE ANOTHER*

*BIBLE READING : 1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-9*

*Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4: 7-8(NKJV).*

The Bible says we are to love one another. Sounds good, but the big question is 'can we do it'? People can be irritating sometimes. Even people at church can be difficult and painful to love. Sometimes it is hard enough to love our own family but still, it is expedient we practice love on an every day basis. The Bible instructs us to do so. 1 John 3:11(NKJV); "For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." This is not a suggestion but a command.

Jesus Himself gave love priority over all other Christian virtues. Every thought, response, and act of goodwill must first pass through the fine filter of love, or it means nothing at all. 1Corinthians 13:1-3. This message may sound irrelevant to our generation that depends on police departments, guns, and force to uphold and fulfill the law. Yet Jesus' simple command requires greater strength than any of us naturally possess more power than any man-made weapon.

When we demonstrate Christian love, it distinguishes believers from the rest of the world (John 13:35). Notice, Jesus did not say that people will know that you are my disciples if you promote my agenda, or wear Christian T-shirts or a WWJD bracelet, or have a fish decal on your car but rather, we are Christians because of the way we love one another.

From the very beginning, God's plan was to develop a people that reflected his character. And what is his character? Love. "And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love, remains in God, and God remains in him. In this, love is made complete in us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world" (1 John 4:16-17 CS.

Believers are God's advertisement to a watching society as to how individuals could best live in the society. God loved us so that He could demonstrate His mercy to us in the person of His Son. (John 3:16). In like manner, everyone around us is of incredible value to God as a potential object of His mercy. His one and only Son died in their place. Since people matter so much to Him, they ought to matter to us. And we, therefore, need to love them as He loves them.

One major reason why people find it hard to love is because it makes them feel vulnerable to betrayal and heartbreak. Yes it is possible to be heart broken because you loved, but it is still not a good reason not to love. God has His way of settling these matters (Luke 17:1).

In conclusion, the goal of the Christian life is love. The measure of our maturity is our love for God and our love for others. If we fail in our love we have missed what it means to be a Christian.

*PRAYER
Lord, teach me how to love like You. Help me forgive all those that offended me.

*CONFESSION
For God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.