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1 John 4:7

NASB	NLT	VOICE
7 Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.	7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.	7 My loved one, let us devote ourselves to loving one another. Love comes straight from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and truly knows God.

What it Means to Love

The call to love others is a core principle into embracing the Christian faith. The call to love is not just an emotional response, but an active, selfless commitment to the well being of others. In biblical context, God’s love is agape, shown by selflessness, sacrifice, and unconditional commitment. The ultimate example of this was the sending of Jesus Christ. Those that share this love have been born of God, embracing the transformation that occurs when one accepts Christ as their Lord and Savior. When we begin to love selflessly and sacrificially – even imperfectly – it shows the world the evidence of our transformation. You would also know God, more than just intellectually. This knowledge is relational and transformative, focused on mirror God’s love to those around you.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: How do you share God’s agape love to those around you?

Love Through God’s Provision

We are called to actively love those around us, not just through our words, but through our promises and actions. It’s a great reminder to us that our words are meaningless unless our actions back them up. We can easily say one thing, but our personality and actions can say something else altogether. This reminds me of a well-known quote often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.” We share God’s agape love through our actions. That same selfless, sacrificial love that God has gifted to us through the death of Christ, is the same love we are called to share with those around us.

Sacrifice will look different person to person. Some people can sacrifice financially, gift money to those struggling to pay their bills or get groceries or clothes. Some people can sacrifice resourcefully, sharing their abundance of clothes and foods for those that are in need. Some people can sacrifice their time, dedicating their energy to hearing someone share their struggles, work through their pain, and pray over those people. Sacrifice will look different, but that’s why God has called us to different paths of life with the different skills that reside inside of us. Some of us may not feel like we can sacrifice something, which is a valid feeling. The world teaches us to always obtain items. To get the latest phone, the latest car, the newest house, the expensive food, go on the latest trip, and more. The world teaches us that we’ll never have enough and that we can never be satisfied with what we have. The truth is – we often have more than we realize. We can survive with what we have. We realize that we do not have to buy into the latest capitalist marketing trends or the latest social media trends. We don’t have to cave into the feelings of FOMO.

We can stand strongly in contentment with God’s provision. We lean into our faith by recognizing that God will provide everything that we need to survive. We will no longer fall into the trap that the world shares with that we will never have enough. We will have enough through God, who lifts us up and encourages us to embrace what we have to do everything that He has called us to do.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: What is one thing that you are struggling with that can be overcome through God’s provision?

PRAY Action

Praise God for His provisional power. Celebrate everything that you have right now, and that God has given you enough to survive everything that you have been through.

Read Romans 8:29

Ask God how you can strengthen your faith in trusting God’s provision. Remind yourself how Christ embraced everything that God provided for Him during His time on earth. Seek ways to embrace God’s provision to help those around you.

You are and have enough. The world may tell you elsewise, but you don’t have to listen to the world. Trust in the one that created you to live in this fallen world.

Next slice of manna: A Path to Healing || 1 Peter 4:8 || Manna for the Mind #319