Title Let's Live with Love
Contents
Hymn: 517 (New Hymn 462) Life, Truth, and Grace
Meditation: Love is the clearest evidence of sincere faith. How is that life being practiced in me now?
Confession of Faith: Apostles' Creed
Text: “Children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18).
Faith is internal and invisible to our eyes. It is love that reveals that hidden inner life. Therefore, love is the clearest evidence of the sincerity of a person's faith. Also, the clearest way to testify to God in this world is to practice love. The love of the saints is not a duty or a mission. If you are a sincere believer, the only thing that can only flow naturally from your life is love. There is a reason why. It is because of the love God has given us.
Because of this marvelous love, we, who were dead in our sins, have life. As we live a life of salvation, we have no choice but to let the love we have received again flow away. “By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16).
For this reason, the love of the saints is fundamentally different from the love of the world. The love of the world is love with a reason to love. The love of the world is conditional, selective love.
However, the love of the saints is love for even those who cannot love at all. It is truly 'love in spite of condition' that transcends conditions. It was because the love of God he received was such a love.
However, in today's text, it is said that love is not 'word and tongue' but 'deed and truth'. He pointed out the dangers that could appear in the lives of the saints. You should know that love that is not expressed in concrete actions is no different from hypocrisy. Love is giving. One of the most important of these is giving alms with wealth. The Bible teaches us to serve one of the least of these as the Lord (Matthew 25:34-40).
Prayer: Help me to live as a witness that God is alive through the practice of love in a harsh world. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Lord's Prayer