Living in God’s Love
Have you ever met someone who was exceptionally kind and caring? Good friends are like this—welcoming, eager to know how you’re doing, giving their undivided attention. A good friend reminds us of who we are. They listen to everything, the good and the bad, with compassion and love.
God is a friend like this. He listens. He empathizes. He cares so much and is kind in His responses. In fact, God does more than just show love—He is love. It is impossible for Him to be anything else because love is His very essence. His love is pure. It isn’t selfish, disengaged, bitter, resentful, or passive. We can trust this kind of love. We can trust God.
In 1 John 4:16 NIV, we find a beautiful reminder of what life with God is like: "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them."
How do you feel after you’ve spent time with a good friend? Maybe you feel more relaxed, you have a spring in my step, or you find that you have the courage to keep going. You might even find yourself loving others better because you feel so loved. The ripple effect of living in God’s love is just like this and more. You can’t help but love others when you know and experience how much God loved you.
This is the life we are invited to. A life that knows and relies on the love God has for us. Today, how will you discover the love God has for you? When you know and experience the love God has for you, everything changes.
Psalm 51 To the Choirmaster, a Psalm of David, when Nathan the Prophet went to him, after he had gone into Bathsheba
1 Have mercy on my, O Go, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sis is ever before me.
4 Against you, and you only, have I sinned and done what is exile in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgement.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; awas me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast ...