Learning
to Understand God
E-mail:
devotionals@anewmeinchrist.com
1st
John 2: 24
Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that
which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall
continue in the Son, and in the Father.
What
was heard from the beginning?
What was heard
from the beginning is that we should love one another.
2nd
John 2: 5
And now I beseech thee lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee,
but that which we had from the beginning, that
we love one another.
What
is love?
Love is living
in obedience to the commandments of God.
2nd
John 2: 6
And this is love that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment,
that as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
What
did we hear from the beginning?
From the
beginning, we were told to love one another. (2nd
John 2: 5c)
True
Love
Love without
action is not love at all. God loved us and He acted upon that love by sending
His only Son, Jesus Christ into the world to die that we might have everlasting
life.
John
3: 16
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Putting
our love for God into action
If we say that
we love God but there is no action to support our love for Him, then we really
don’t love Him at all. We are to put our love for God into action by living in
obedience to His word.
John
14: 14 (Jesus is speaking)
If ye love Me, Keep My commandments.
The
Two Great Commandments
Matthew
23: 37- 39 (Jesus is speaking)
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul and with all thy mind.
This is the
first and great commandment.
And the second
is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
The
Promise
Those who live
in obedience to the commandments of God are promised eternal life.
And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
Observation
So many of us
have so many differing ideas about what constitutes or defines a relationship
with God that instead of drawing others to Christ, we are turning them away from
Him. God’s method of drawing others to Him is through love in action. Any
other method is not of Him and will not work.
Preaching and evangelizing are good tools for spreading the word of God but without acts of love and kindness toward our fellow man, they will be ineffective. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you and you will win many souls for the kingdom.
Writer: Velyn Cooper