God’s love

God loved this cruel world so much (John 3:16)

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John 3:16

John 3:16 contains some of the most familiar words in all the Bible, “For God so loved the world, that he sent his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

 God so loved a rebellious world. The gospel writer John is not talking about a world so big and full of people, but a world of people who have turned away from their Maker. God made the world very good (Genesis 1:31), but the people of the world have rebelled against God.

God loves this rebellious world lavishly. When Jesus told us to love our enemies, he was not speaking in hypotheticals. He spoke what he was at that moment actively doing.  

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We Love Because He First Loved Us (1 John 4:19)

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1 John 4:19

The Apostle John says, “We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).” I remember a scene from a movie. I cannot recall the title, nor do I recall the movie being very good. But I do remember a particular scene. The movie is about a daughter who had grown up in a loving family with every opportunity to thrive. But she gets caught up with a friend. The two girls begin sneaking out at night, causing mischief, doing drugs, and many other things that need not mentioning. The mother in the movie watches her sweet, innocent daughter transform. Continue reading →

I Am Bound to Love (1 John 4:11)

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Jesus Loves

1 John 4:11

“Beloved, since God loves us in this way, we also ought to love one another,” said the Apostle John (1 John 4:11, author’s translation).

Last week we looked at how lavishly and selflessly God has loved us. He chose to send his one and only Son into the world as an atonement for sin so that we might live (1 John 4:9-10). We long to comprehend and practice this type of love in our lives. Yet, this love does not arise naturally from within us. Continue reading →

Parental Love from the Pit (1 John 3:1-3)

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1 John 3:1-3

In the 2002 film, John Q, a son with an enlarged heart is denied a heart transplant, because John’s health insurance will not cover the procedure. John, the father, decides to take matters into his own hands and holds the hospital hostage at gun point. When no viable donor heart can be found, John puts the gun up to the temple of his own head and says to the surgeon: “Somebody’s gotta die in order for him to live. I’m his father; it’s me!” Continue reading →