Devotionals for April 26, 2023
There's still a chance to join us for Starting Point! Class begins this Sunday, April 30 at 12:30pm.
READ
1 John 4:7-9; Matthew 22:37-40
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
REFLECT
There is no such thing as an unloving, obedient Christian. You could serve four Sundays in a row, read the Bible front to back, abstain from all types of carnality and sin, speak in tongues, and prophesy, and still be walking in disobedience. These good things, which every Christian ought to do, become symbols of hypocrisy without love at their center. The New Testament seems to prioritize love as a measurement of true faith. Jesus identifies loving God and our neighbor as the two commandments on which the entire law depends. If you notice in yourself a spirit of flippancy toward your brothers and sisters in Christ, or if you find yourself speaking harshly of others, despising people, and holding a cynical attitude against them, this ought to alarm you far more than whether or not you completed a daily devotional.
APPLY
Q: How important is loving God and neighbor to Jesus?
Q: Who in your life do you need to repent of unloving attitudes towards?
Q: How does this commandment change how you talk about others?
SING
"Lord Send Revival” by Hillsong Young & Free
PRAY
"Give us today our daily bread."
Help us, Lord, to walk with you daily in obedience to your commands. Help us to love our neighbor. Help us to love you.
READ
1 John 4:7-9; Matthew 22:37-40
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
REFLECT
There is no such thing as an unloving, obedient Christian. You could serve four Sundays in a row, read the Bible front to back, abstain from all types of carnality and sin, speak in tongues, and prophesy, and still be walking in disobedience. These good things, which every Christian ought to do, become symbols of hypocrisy without love at their center. The New Testament seems to prioritize love as a measurement of true faith. Jesus identifies loving God and our neighbor as the two commandments on which the entire law depends. If you notice in yourself a spirit of flippancy toward your brothers and sisters in Christ, or if you find yourself speaking harshly of others, despising people, and holding a cynical attitude against them, this ought to alarm you far more than whether or not you completed a daily devotional.
APPLY
Q: How important is loving God and neighbor to Jesus?
Q: Who in your life do you need to repent of unloving attitudes towards?
Q: How does this commandment change how you talk about others?
SING
"Lord Send Revival” by Hillsong Young & Free
PRAY
"Give us today our daily bread."
Help us, Lord, to walk with you daily in obedience to your commands. Help us to love our neighbor. Help us to love you.