Good morning Lord Jesus, as I awake physically I seek Your Spirit to awaken me spiritually so I can live out this day in Your Spirit.
If the first half of the gospel is John 3:16. We read it in today’s reading John chapter 3. It is the verse that is the most well-known, memorized and recited verse by Christians around the world. “For this is how so loved God the world: His one and only Son he gave, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”. (John 3:16)
However, John did not end his reflections, teachings and good news of Jesus in this Gospel we are reading. The second half of his gospel is in his letters that are also found in the Bible. The author John writes in 1 John 3:16, “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.” What if it was 1 John 3:16 and not John 3:16 that was the most well-known, memorized and recited verse by Christians around the world. How would Christians live and evangelize differently?
Then the whole gospel would be summed up in: show me, don’t tell me. John’s words would challenge us to not just know that God loves us and sent His Son to save us, but to put that knowledge into practice. John is using his authority in love to challenge us to rethink what it means to be a servant of Christ. The goal of the gospel that “So Love God the world” is to redefine our relationship to God, however also as importantly to redefine our relationship to others, and even to ourselves.
In other words: show me, don’t tell me.
Eugene Peterson says, “Every movement we make in response to God has a ripple effect, touching family, neighbors, friends, community. Belief in God alters our language. Love of God affects daily relationships… it all gets worked into local history, eventually into world history.”
Lord, as I read these words of John which are inspired by you I hear you also say to me, “I am confident as I write this letter that you will do what I ask and even more!” In other words you are saying to me as well, show me, don’t tell me. Show me in my relationship with you Jesus where I need to redefine and restore some of my personal relationships. Reveal to me where and how in my day to day life I can not only tell people Jesus loves them, but show it. Challenge me as well to rethink what it means to be a servant of Christ.
My family, I pray this morning the heavenly Father stirs up the gift of His Holy Spirit in your lives and challenges you to rethink as well what is means to be a servant of Christ, so loved by God. I pray today you will not only plan to tell people as John 3:16 states that Jesus loves them, but as 1John 3:16 states, you will show it too. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below with us from todays reading.
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