I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
What does love really look like?
It’s easy to feel bombarded with information about what it means to love and to be loved. But the template for true love isn’t found in cultural trends, it was given to us by the God who represents the concept itself.
His love is different from any other kind of love. In fact, the Bible says that God is love.
God sent His only Son to die for the sins of every person. There was only one reason for God to experience that kind of heartache: His love for us.
God didn’t need us, but He wanted us. His love is unconditional, sacrificial, everlasting, and for everyone. When we accept God’s love for us, we can then love Him in return and let Him change the way we see ourselves. And when we learn to see ourselves through the lens of God’s love, we start to love others like God loves us.
Jesus modeled what God’s love looked like when He gave up His life for us. We didn’t deserve or earn it—but that didn’t stop Him from going to the cross on our behalf.
We become His friends when we accept His sacrifice and receive His forgiveness. But Jesus says we will truly know that we are His friends if we do what He asks of us (John 15:14). And this is what Jesus asks of us…
“Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
John 15:12-13 NLT
If we love Jesus, then we are His friends. But if we are His friends, then we will care about what He cares about. And He cared so much about us that He gave up His rights, authority, and life so that anyone could experience God’s eternal love. Jesus will call us His friends if we are willing to do the same thing.
So what would laying down your life for a friend look like? Maybe this means giving up your plans for a day in order to serve someone. It could look like preserving a relationship by intentionally giving up an argument. Or maybe it means sacrificing your time, energy, or self-image in order to come alongside someone who is hurting.
God’s love in action is selfless because it causes us to think about ourselves less. So today, ask God to show you how you can love others like He has sacrificially loved you.
Day 24 of the reading of the gospel of Luke
Merry Christmas Eve
Luke 24
“Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: and as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words, and returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, ...
The Fulfillment of Promises Made Long Ago
“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord.”
To modern ears, this verse is a familiar, warm, and comforting centerpiece of the Christmas story. But to those who first heard these words from the angel on the night Jesus was born, every word was electric, buzzing with fulfilled expectations.
A Savior.
Born in Bethlehem, the town of David.
The Messiah.
The Lord.
For centuries, Israel had lived with a promise. The prophet Isaiah had declared, “To us a child is born, to us a son is given… and He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Jeremiah had spoken of a righteous branch from David’s line, a King who would reign wisely and bring justice (Jeremiah 23:5). Micah, too, had foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, David’s town (Micah 5:2).
So when the angel announced this birth to shepherds under the night sky, it wasn’t just...
