Today's Verse - 1 John 4:9

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

—1 John 4:9

Thoughts on Today's Verse...

Love is an action. The Bible stresses this truth again and again. Love must not only be spoken and felt, but it must also be demonstrated in daily life. The beginning of love is God. He showed his love for us in Jesus so we could know our incredible value to him. The price of our adoption was the emptying of heaven of its greatest treasure, God the Son, who is our Savior, and God's greatest demonstration of love. Because love is not genuine until it is both felt and acted on. "This is how God showed his love among us..." He sent Jesus!

My Prayer...

Loving Father, thank you for adopting me into your family. I can never thank you enough or ever repay you for your kindness, but please receive the service of my life as my ongoing thanksgiving for your grace and as my small way of trying to share the love you have given me. Through my Brother (Romans 8:29; Hebrews 2:10-11) and my Ransom I pray. Amen.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

Today's Verse - Matthew 22:37-39

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

—Matthew 22:37-39

Thoughts on Today's Verse...

Some things are just not complicated to understand. However, that doesn't mean putting them into practice is easy for me. Jesus was clear in what he said. Living for God can be boiled down to two principles:

1. Loving God with everything I am and have.
2. Loving others and treating them as I would like to be treated.

Those principles are certainly not too hard to understand. It's the living of them that is our challenge. So, let's not just understand these two principles of love; let's live them out in our daily lives:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ... Love your neighbor as yourself.

My Prayer...

Dear Father, the one true and living God, please accept the work of my hands, the words of my mouth, the moments of my rest, and the love of my heart as my worship to you this day. I pray that these are pleasing and refreshing to you as I seek to live out your two love commands in my life today. In the name of your Son, the LORD Jesus, I pray. Amen.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

Today's Verse - 1 John 4:19

We love because he first loved us.

—1 John 4:19

Thoughts on Today's Verse...

It's all very simple. God is love (1 John 4:7-8). He is love's origin, example, and architect. I love because God loved me first. I know how to love because he has demonstrated it in Jesus. I can love because he made me in his likeness and to share his character, and because God pours his love into my heart through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). He is the fountain, the motivation, and the pinnacle of love. I love because God loves - first, last, and always.

My Prayer...

God of comfort, God of love, thank you for comforting me with your love. Just as a child learns from parents how to do so many things, I want to learn to love as you do: sacrificially, selflessly, and submissively so that others may know that they do not have to earn your love, only receive it and share it with others. In the name of Jesus, your perfect example of love, I pray. Amen.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.