Daily Bible Verses for 10/19/2016

The Love of God – (1st John 4:10-11, 15, 18-19)

Bible Verse
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to pay the price for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.

Reading Notes
God doesn’t just tell us to love one another. He first demonstrated to us what love is by giving us His Son, so that we may spend eternity with Him. God first demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners at enmity with Him, Jesus died for us. While we were in rebellion against God, Jesus suffered and died for us! God first demonstrated His love toward us, in the beauty of nature and all the good things we receive because of His mercy and love toward us. Moreover, because of that love we have been given assurance and not fear. Jesus who is the living God of Heaven, stepped out of eternity and took on humanity, for no other reason than to die for us, in order that we may spend eternity with Him. That’s how much God loves us!

When Jesus died for us, God removed our fear and in its place He gave us His grace which brings with it perfect mercy, perfect peace, and the perfect love of God. Therefore, our confidence is in Christ alone, through faith alone. Our life is in our Lord, who demonstrated His love for us! Jesus’ sacrifice for us at the Cross of Calvary and His resurrection gives us the assurance of salvation. It demonstrated for us perfect love and it’s this confidence, we have in our salvation. A salvation given to us freely by Jesus through faith. And it’s this perfect love which gives us the courage to go boldly forward proclaiming the Gospel message of salvation in Christ alone. And it’s the joy of our salvation which fills our hearts with love for the lost, a desire for God’s word and a love for those we encounter in our daily walk with Jesus.