Everlasting life is God’s free gift to all those willing to believe in salvation through Jesus alone (John 3:16-17). If we choose not to believe, we condemn our self to eternal destruction because of our unbelief (John 3:18). Once we are comfortable with our new place in God’s Kingdom, we can get to know others in His Body of Believers.
We learn through Bible studies and fellowship with God’s other adopted children what it means to have a forever family, and to be free from our position as aliens and foreigners on this earth (1 Peter 2:11). God is love, and those who love Him and other people are born of God and know God. However, those who follow selfish ambitions and goals do not know or love God (1 John 4:7-8).
Faith, hope, and love go together, but the greatest of them all is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). Love is one word that comprises such a wondrous facet of other character traits. Someone who loves has ultimate patience, is kind, does not envy, or push oneself to the forefront. They do not behave inappropriately, nor seek their own agenda (1 Corinthians 13:4-5).
They do not get so angry that it causes them to sin, nor do they think the worse about another person. They have no joy in sinful activity, but only rejoice in the truth. They bear the hard parts of life as well as the good, remain hopeful in God’s provision, and they endure whatever life throws at them through Christ in them (1 Corinthians 13:6-7; Colossians 1:27).
God came to earth in the form of a man, suffered and died to pay the penalty for us of our iniquity, and He rose again to bring redemption to anyone willing to totally surrender their life to Him (John 15:13; Psalm 26:7). We find shelter from our circumstances under the shadow of His wings, and He helps us to victoriously walk through every trial.
Prayer:
Father God, there is no supreme being, or god on this earth who can compare to You; yet, so many choose to follow a person or to worship their possessions and achievements instead of You. You keep all Your covenants with people, and You continually show mercy to Your Saints who walk before You with their whole heart (2 Chronicles 6:14). You call us Your children, even when the world does not recognize You or our testimony of Your goodness in our life (1 John 3:1).
When we were still sinners, separated from You by the great chasm of our unbelief, You showed Your love to us and continually drew us to Yourself (Romans 5:8). Fears often torment us in our circumstances, and prevent us from seeing the perfection of Your love. However, there is no fear in Your love, because Your perfect love destroys all fear as we commit to focus our faith on Your faithfulness (1 John 4:18).
Thoughts for the Day:
God devotedly cares for those who allow Him to love others through them because we are God’s unconditional love “with skin on.” Each day we are ambassadors for Christ and God’s representatives in this broken and pain-filled life through which we traverse. God keeps His covenant with us and with those in every generation after us because of His love for us.
- Deuteronomy 7:9
