Daily Devotions On Love

Philippians 3:7-8 – Vertical To Horizontal Relationships

Daily Devotions Bible Verse

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ  (Phillipians 3:7-8 ESV)

We can often get caught up in the relationships of our lives.  They might be with a spouse or loved one, maybe a good friend, or even someone we disciple.  Should these relationships be the most important things to us?  From the verse we have for today, probably not.  Our goal in life should be knowing Christ above everything and from there letting Jesus affect our relationships. In essence, we should first work on our vertical relationship and then let the love of  that relationship influence the horizontal relationships we have with those around us. Continue Reading →

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John 15:12-13 – Agape Love

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:12-13 ESV)

So what is love really? In the English language we have one word for love. We use this word to say…

I love that pasta dish.
I’d love to go on a hike in the woods.
I sure miss you bro. Love you man.
I’m really glad you are my wife. I love you baby.

But we don’t mean the same thing with the word love in each of those phrases. The Greek language, in which the New Testament was written, actually has 3 words that are translated as “love” in English: Continue Reading →

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Hebrews 13:5 – Currency of Love

Daily Devotions Bible Verse

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5 ESV)

What is it to love something? In cases where true love indeed exists, toward our children for example, we know because it is expressed as much in action as in feeling. Parents serve their children and are completely devoted to them, as are husbands and wives in loving relationship. We value love by how it is displayed for us, much in the same way we show our appreciation to a great waitress by giving a nice tip. Culturally, we show the value we have in products and services by our wallets, and the giving of our currency. The currency of love then is service; what and who we serve are the what and who we really love.

 The Father showed us his love in the giving of his only Son (John 3:16), and Jesus loved us even to his own death. But for many of us, rather than Continue Reading →

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I Timothy 1:5 – Mark of the Believer

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5 ESV)

Love is so vast and deep that humans will never reach its end in understanding or experience. Here, love is the believer’s “charge”, in Romans it is the “fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10), and in I John an accurate depiction of our God; “God is love” (I John 4:8). So love is both something to be felt and enjoyed together, and an attribute of our God to be learned and emulated over a lifetime. Essentially, what it boils down to is that genuine biblical love is a life’s work in itself! It’s both an experience and a pursuit, and given the context the commentator John MacArthur describes love as “characterized by self-denial and self-sacrifice, for the benefit of others, and it is the mark of a true Christian”. For God loved us first, even as ill-deserving rebels, by sacrificially sending his only Son for our great good and his great glory! This indeed is how we ought Continue Reading →

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I Timothy 1:5 – Aim For Love

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5 ESV)

Have you ever lived next door to a musician? It can be a real treat at times when he or she is accomplished, but what about when said musician is, for instance, a lousy drummer who knows how to do nothing but pound? We all understand that in the right context musicians gathering to play is lovely. A symphony, for example, can perform tremendously beautiful and resonating pieces. They each play their part, complimenting one another to form one cohesive sound. But remember Paul’s warning to the Corinthians, that “if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (I Corinthians 13:1)?

A Christian who misses that the “aim of our charge is love” is like someone pounding away at a cymbal, drowning out everything surrounding it. When we don’t aim for love Continue Reading →

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Ephesians 6:15 – The Whole Armor: Gospel of Peace

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. (Ephesians 6:15 ESV)

God loves people. In fact God proved he loves us by actually becoming one of us. Jesus left the very place everyone from every era has literally been dying to get to, Heaven. Jesus left an eternal place for a temporal one, left a place of satisfaction for a place of wanting, left a place of peace and majesty for a place of war and shadows. The earth is beautiful to be sure, but it is only a dim reflection of heaven’s wonder. Jesus willingly came and died here to make peace between us and God (Colossians 1:20). Our God values men and women and children, no matter the shape, size, or color. Human beings have intrinsic value and worth as we are created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), we aren’t evolved beasts.

In fact, his love for us is so great it is unfathomable (Ephesians 3:19). This kind of love fundamentally alters those who encounter it, and should not allow us to view another human being in the same way again. You know your mailman? Continue Reading →

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