For Reading and Meditation:      1 John 4:7-16We turn now to consider another aspect of God's nature and character - love. There are three things told us in Scripture concerning the nature of God. First, "God is spirit" (John 4:24), which means He has no visible substance. Second, "God is light" (1 John 1:5), which means no darkness can dwell in Him. In Scripture darkness stands for sin, death, and so on. Third, "God is love," which means that the energy that flows out from His Being is that of infinite, eternal beneficence. When John wrote the words "God is love" it was no slick statement, as it was the first time in history that the phrase had been used in that way. People had believed that God was love, and had speculated about His benevolence, but now the categorical statement is laid down for all to behold. These words, in my judgment, are the high-water mark of divine revelation; nothing more needs to be said for nothing greater can be said. I often create a mental picture for myself of the angels peering over the battlements of heaven as John wrote those words and then, when they had been written down, I imagine them breaking into rapturous applause and saying to each other: "They've got it. They've got it! At last they see that God is love." And a sigh of deep satisfaction and great joy would have filled the portals of heaven in the knowledge that the greatest truth about God was now made crystal clear. The implied was now inscribed.O Father, I am so thankful that You have demonstrated categorically that the greatest thing about You is love. My heart gladly rests upon that glorious fact. I look forward to exploring it forever. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Jeremiah 31:1-4</li><li>John 3:16</li><li>Romans 5:8</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did the Lord appear and say?</li><li>How did He demonstrate this?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"God is love." (v. 16)

For Reading and Meditation:      1 John 4:7-21There have been two great attempts to find God throughout the ages," said Dr. E. Stanley Jones, "one, philosophy, the other, moralism." The attempts of philosophy to find God are represented by the three great philosophical nations - Greece, India, and China. These three nations have taken men and women about as far as it is possible to philosophical reasoning. Philosophy has strained itself to the utmost and yet it has not been successful in finding God. Lao-tzu, the Chinese philosopher, said the final word about God is Silence, and Shankaracharya, the Indian philosopher, said the final word about God is not that. They both concluded at zero. Moralism, likewise, cannot lead to God. The attempt to find God through the law was the noble effort made by the Jews. Never was such a moral system devised as theirs, nor an end result so disappointing. It produced, for instance, the Pharisee who stood in his pride and said: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men" (Luke 18:11). Jesus pronounced doom on the Pharisee's attempt to find God through moralism when He said: "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20). They could not reach the kingdom by even their greatest self-effort alone. Both philosophy and moralism fall short. When our best was not good enough, when our highest attempts could not lead to the kingdom, God came down Himself to lift us. Now no one need say in his or her quest for God: "Not that."O God, Your down-reach is my only hope. My up-reach is feeble and goes little higher than my head. Your down-reach, however, goes to the lowest of the low-it reaches me. I take hold of Your grace and I am lifted - to You. Blessed be Your Name forever. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Romans 5:1-8</li><li>Ephesians 2:4-5</li><li>John 3:16</li><li>2 Timothy 3:5</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What is the result of moralism?</li><li>What is the heart of Christianity?</li></ul></div></div>

"... God ... sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him." (v. 9)

1 John 4:7-16"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love ." One reason why Christians should love one another, is because God would have them interpret His love to the world, and this they can do, only by love. Anything unloving - is not of God. We ought to think of this - that it is our mission - to let the world know what God is like. A great many people do not know God, do not know what His character is. We know Him and we are to make Him known to others. This we cannot do merely by telling them about God. The Bible is full of revealings of God - but it is not enough for us to read the Bible to people. It does little good for us to quote texts which tell of God's goodness, kindness and holiness - if we cannot show the goodness, kindness and holiness in our own life! The only Bible we can really get others to read - is the one written in our own conduct, disposition and character! People must see God's love in us.When Mr. McAll went to Paris to begin his mission work, he knew only a few words of French. All he could say was, "God loves you, and I love you." His message was that God loved the people to whom he was speaking - but this would not have been listened to by them - if they had not seen the love also in the preacher. That is, the love of God was interpreted to them, in himself. We must give the same interpretation.There is no other love like God's. There has always been love in the world. Mothers have always loved their children. There have always been tender home affections. Men have always loved their country. But these are only little fragments of love, imperfect and faulty at best. The great fountain and center of all love - is God's love. It is to all other love - as the sun is to all earth's little candles. God's love is love which does not depend on our love to draw it out. God does not love us because we love Him - if that were true, we would never have God's love. The message of the gospel is not that we should love God - but that God loves us. It makes a great deal of difference how we read the words. Which love comes first - ours, or God's? Our confidence is not in our love for God, which is very weak, faulty and ever changing - but in God's love for us. This is infinite, eternal, and never changes. Whatever our need or feelings may be, we may always be sure that the love of God is everlasting, the same yesterday and today and forever."The Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." We think of the holy child sleeping His first infancy's sleep in the manger, and we hear the angel say, "There is born to you this day in the city of David - a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." It is because God loved the world - that He gave His only begotten Son!It is knowing and believing the love of God in Jesus Christ, which saves us. It is possible to know it and not sincerely believe it. To be blessed by it - we must believe that God loves us with an individual, personal love, and must let His love into our hearts. A story is told of a child in Luther's day, who for the first time heard and believed this love. She lived in a home where only severe thoughts of God were known. The name of God was used to frighten the children. Every mention of God made the child tremble. She had learned to think of Him as her enemy, watching her only to punish her. One day she found on the floor of her father's printing office a piece of torn paper with some words printed on it. Picking it up, she began to read, "God so loved the world, that he gave," it was torn off here. She did not know what followed. But the thought that God loved was an altogether new one for her. If He loved the world He could not be such a terrible God as she had been taught to believe Him to be. "God so loved the world that he gave," her paper said. What He gave, she did not know - but if He loved enough to give anything, He must be a kind and good God. So her thought ran on until, by and by, a new conception of God had taken possession of her heart. With nothing more than this little fragment of a verse - she had received a great truth, and the thought of God had become a wonderful blessing to her. She knew and believed the love that God had for her, and it saved her. This is the lesson all of us need to learn afresh!

A unique type of devotional from the writings of James Russell Miller, published between 1908 and 1913.

Devotional Hours Within the Bible

1 John 4:7-16

God's Love in the Gift of His Son

12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

No one has ever seen God;<cr>1</cr> but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.<cr>2</cr>

1 John 4:12

 12 No one has ever seen God;   but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.  

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

 No one has ever seen God;   but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.  

Bible Verse of the Day

January 6, 2022

1 John 4:12 NIV

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