Beautiful Word Devotional #121

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:11

Since God so loved us . . .” Don’t skip over that remarkable statement! God loves us, and we see his absolute and unconditional love in the cross. God sent his Son to die for our sins so we could be set free from the penalty of sin and live in relationship with him forever.

Having been loved so lavishly—Jesus died for us!—we gratefully find ourselves loving God in return. His plan is for his love to then flow through us to others, and why wouldn’t that happen! After all, God’s love freed us, healed us, and transformed us. What a life-changing message to share with others so that they might experience the same!

But some of us get stuck: we struggle to receive God’s love. Maybe we feel we don’t deserve it, or that it’s for other, better people, that it’s too good to be true, that it’s a flat-out lie. But God absolutely does love you. Ask him to help you believe. He wants you to rest in his affection, forgiveness, and love today and always.

Lord, thank you for loving me so I can love others well, amen.