Welcome to Day 180 of the “Manna for the Mind” devotional! This series is about finding nourishment in the Word of God to get us through the day. In each devotional, I take a variety of scripture passages (typically 1-3 verses each) and build our understanding of what they teach via their context and connecting scripture. My goal is to help you understand how to be the type of human God created you to be. Today’s passage is 1 John 3:18.

1 John 3:18

NASB	NLT	VOICE
18 Little children, let’s not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.	18 Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.	18 My little children, don’t just talk about love as an idea or a theory. Make it your true way of life, and live in the pattern of gracious love.

Let’s not just word each other by what we say. Let’s show this love to each other through our actions.

Truth is the Greek noun alétheia (ah-lay-thay-ah). It not only represents factual correctness, but also sincerity, integrity, and faithfulness. The opposite of what this word represents is falsehood and deception. When we go out to love those around us, we must love them sincerely. Our love must be an intentional act to share compassion through meeting their needs, listening to their troubles, and celebrating their successes. It could be a combination of those things as well. It must be with integrity as well, showing that we are not doing this out of pride or to feed our ego. Our acts of love should be sincere and focused on the other person. It should be an act of faith. Sometimes when we help, we are sacrificing something – our food, money, or time typically – and we shouldn’t go into trying to expect something in return. We do it because it’s what God commands. We do it because it what God’s created us to do.

Next slice of Manna: Manna for the Mind #181