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.

Today's Verse - Ephesians 2:4-5

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved.

—Ephesians 2:4-5

Thoughts on Today's Verse...

God is rich in mercy and generous with grace! Isn't that wonderful for us? I don't know about you, but I sure know I have failures, shortcomings, sins, and transgressions. Without God’s mercy, I would be lost in my sins (Romans 3:23-25). Without his grace, I would be cut off from the life God longs for me to have (Romans 5:6-11).
God is rich in mercy and generous with grace! He acted on our behalf when he sent Jesus to show us his love (1 John 4:9-10). Now, because of his rich mercy and generous grace, we are dead to that old sinful self, and our lives are now tied to Jesus' glorious future (Colossians 2:12, 3:1-4). "God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ"!

My Prayer...

Father of all grace and mercy, thank you. Thank you for being who you are - the Father of mercy and the God of all grace (1 Peter 3:13, 5:10)! Thank you for extending your grace when we did not deserve it. Thank you for giving mercy when we most needed it. Thank you for blessing us with life when we thought our lives were doomed and hopeless. May we be rich in mercy. May we be people of grace. We desire to be wealthy in these ways, like you, more than being rich in earthly riches that are destined to perish (Matthew 6:19-20). Help us, O LORD, to be more like you, to be rich in mercy. In the name of 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.