Dave's Diary

Daily Reading: 1 John 3:11-24

¹¹ For this is the message you heard from the beginning: we should love one another … ¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us … ²³ And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us.

The beloved apostle John, writing to those he has pastored and discipled, reminds them of the fundamentals of living their lives as followers of Jesus.

Our new life in Christ is made possible by the love Christ had for us long before we were ever aware of it. Moved by His love for us, He laid down His life on the Cross to save us; and by this great act of love, He opened the way for us to become children of God through faith in Him. Praise God for the love of Christ!

Our new life and our adoption into the family of God moves from the possible to the actual only when we “believe in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ”. Our step of faith, surrendering our lives to Christ’s Lordship, ushers us in to a whole new way of life, which is animated by the Lord Jesus Himself. Praise God for new life in Christ!

The Christ-animated life, which we now live, expresses itself as a life of love. It stands to reason that when the One who loves humanity enough to die for us lives within a human being by faith, that person’s life will begin to manifest the same love. The command to love one another is actually a command to allow the love of the indwelling-Christ to be expressed through us. Praise God that the power for this new life of love comes from the Lord of Love who lives in us.

Lord Jesus, the King of Love Who lives in me: Manifest Your love through my life today. Graciously grant me sensitivity to the promptings of Your love, so that I may move at the impulse of Your love to express Your love in practical out-workings of kindness and compassion, servanthood and generosity, justice and mercy. Make this world a better place through me, I pray. Amen.