{"id":532,"date":"2017-08-30T06:48:10","date_gmt":"2017-08-30T14:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=532"},"modified":"2017-08-30T06:48:10","modified_gmt":"2017-08-30T14:48:10","slug":"devotion-1-john-316-19-here-you-take-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=532","title":{"rendered":"Devotion\u00a0\u00a0 1 John 3:16-19\u00a0\u00a0 Here, You Take It"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 John 3:16-19\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013\u00a016\u00a0This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.\u00a0And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.\u00a017\u00a0If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,\u00a0how can the love of God be in that person? 18\u00a0Dear children,\u00a0let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.\u00a0 19\u00a0This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence.<\/span><\/p>\n

When born into this world we didn\u2019t know how to love the way God loves.\u00a0 We were born with a fallen and sinful nature (Psalm 51:5<\/strong>).\u00a0 Being born with a fallen nature God has said in Jeremiah 17:9 <\/strong>\u201cThe heart\u00a0is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.\u00a0 Who can understand it?<\/span>\u201d\u00a0 V16<\/strong> starts off \u201cThis is how we know what love is.<\/span>\u201d \u201cHow we know\u201d has an original meaning of how we learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of.\u00a0 Even as Christians we don\u2019t fully grasp the vastness of the love of God.\u00a0 However, as we walk in His love we increasingly learn of His love.\u00a0 It is only by being in Jesus that we begin to understand His love.\u00a0 Begin.\u00a0 If we are diligent and thoughtful about the love of Jesus, then we will increasingly know the love of God.<\/p>\n

Is V16 <\/strong>calling us to lay down our physical life for each other?\u00a0 Where the concentration of this verse leads us to is the love that it takes to do so.\u00a0 Most of us will never be called upon to physically die for a brother or sister.\u00a0 However, the love that it would take to die for another is what is being focused upon.\u00a0 Jesus had the love within Him to lay down His life for us. We heard of the love of God and as we are born from above through Jesus (John 3:3<\/strong>), we come to know it more and more.\u00a0 Jesus did not only die for us on the cross, every day He lived on earth He died for us.\u00a0 He laid down His life for us not only on the cross but also on a daily basis.\u00a0 He set down, or set aside, His possessions and rights so that we would be blessed. The expression \u201cJesus Christ laid down his life for us\u201d means that He set aside what was His (Philippians 2:6-8<\/strong>) so that we could have what the Father would have for us. Laying down our life for each other is not only giving up one\u2019s physical life for each other, but laying down our lives for each other on a daily basis.\u00a0 How we know what love is means observing how love was expressed to us by our Father God through Jesus our Lord.\u00a0 It means that we are willing to set aside our comfort and time for each other.\u00a0 It means that it is more important for us to bless each other than it means to grasp tightly the blessings God has given us.<\/p>\n

I often want to invite people to someplace and to pay for them, as I am able.\u00a0 Maybe dinner or maybe a movie.\u00a0 In the past it has been wrongly assumed that I wanted to be a \u201cBig Shot\u201d and a show off.\u00a0 That is not what is in my heart.\u00a0 Actually I would just feel bad if the people I love and care about do not have the blessings that I have. \u00a0I want to bless others because I had been blessed. \u00a0Why should I \u201chave it good\u201d and not others?\u00a0 I want others to have the blessings that God has given me.\u00a0 We should be willing to share what we have with others when we are able, or even to give it up ourselves and give it to another, as the Lord leads (Proverbs 3:27<\/strong>) (and we should be listening to the Lord!).<\/p>\n

If we are able to help and will not (a matter of the will, not ability) then the Word of God is stating that the love of God is not in us.\u00a0 Let\u2019s be reminded that if the love of God is not within us, then God is not in us, and we are still lost (1 John 4:8<\/strong>).\u00a0 Just as faith without action is dead (James 2:17<\/strong>), so love is not present if there are no fruits of love.\u00a0 All true acts of compassion and charity begin with love. If we have the love of God in us, then acts of love will be done by us.\u00a0 Not only talked about by us, but done by us.\u00a0 Words mean nothing if there is no action to support them.<\/p>\n

Family, if we love, let us consider others before ourselves (Philippians 2:3<\/strong>).\u00a0 Let us not live out love as some laborious duty that we will do if we must, but rather as something that we willingly, joyously and generously give out because that is what is in our hearts.\u00a0 It is in our hearts because we have the love of God within us, more love than any of us could contain, and so we must open the floodgates and let the love of God flow out with kind words, kind actions and genuine concern.<\/p>\n

God loved us and gave us Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus loved us and gave up all for us.\u00a0 If we are like our God, we will consider the needs of others something we must help with, if we are able.\u00a0 Let us be sincere and thoughtful about this, God is watching (Hebrews 4:13<\/strong>) and He knows our hearts (Jeremiah 17:10<\/strong>).\u00a0 It is an honor to love the family of God.\u00a0 Let us take pleasure in doing so and as we do, we know that we do because God is within us and our hearts rest in His presence.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/strong>\u00a0– But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/span><\/p>\n

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1 John 3:16-19\u00a0\u2013\u00a016\u00a0This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.\u00a0And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.\u00a017\u00a0If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,\u00a0how can the love of God be in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[2310,205,457,2311,366,147,907,2312,66,104,1700,99,180,100,13,1871,88,17,1634,1742],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-big-shot","tag-blessings","tag-brother","tag-charity","tag-children","tag-compassion","tag-consider","tag-deceitful","tag-heart","tag-hebrews","tag-james","tag-jeremiah","tag-jesus-christ","tag-john","tag-love","tag-philippians","tag-proverbs","tag-psalm","tag-sister","tag-willingly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":533,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions\/533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}