Biblical Love: Part 3 — A ‘Time With God’ Devotion

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Transcript

Good morning. We’re talking about God’s love this week. God’s love for us, but also our love for people around us and the fact that we can’t love people, the way that we need to because what’s natural for us is to focus on ourselves and to love people if they love us and to interpret every event, every circumstance, every encounter with everybody in our lives based on how it impacts on me because it’s part of our fallen human nature to be self-centered, isn’t that right?

No matter how we try to act as if that’s not right, really in our hearts, we know that we’re pretty focused on ourselves, and only by God’s work in our hearts can we become the way God designed us to be when He first made us, and that is people who reflect His love to the other people around us in life. You were put into this world by God with a purpose, and that purpose is not to be focused on yourself because you are not the centre of this universe, your purpose is for God to use you in the lives of the people around you, to point people to Him, to encourage people, to be a giver in relationships, not a taker in relationships, to receive love from other people, yes, but not to just try and suck people dry who are around you, but rather to be someone who’s thinking about encouraging, giving, inputting into the lives of the people around you.

Really the foundation of coming to the place of being able to do that in a real meaningful way, is to first accept God’s love for you. I want to read you a few verses from Romans chapter 5, starting in verse 5.

Hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit whom was given to us. While we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

That’s you and me. You don’t have to be, you know, an awful criminal to be ungodly. You just have to be a person focused on yourself, not God.

At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us.

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In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

That is awesome truth.

God loves you.

God has focused Himself on you. He has sacrificed enormously for you. Jesus died on the cross for you, and believing that God’s love is unconditional and not dependent on what I do back for Him is the first step to coming to be able to love others unconditionally, the people around us in life.

God’s love doesn’t depend on how good you are.

Did you see what it said? While we were helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It wasn’t anything beautiful in you or good in you that made Jesus die on the cross for you. He just loved you.

And he still loves you no matter what your life is like. God loves you, and He wants to reach out to you. He’s waiting for you to receive His love and accept the forgiveness He offers because of what Jesus did for you at the cross and put your trust in Him.

And even as someone who’s already done that, we can slip back into thinking, oh, but God doesn’t like me because of my life. God is unconditionally committed to you.

But he wants you to respond to him. He wants you to love him back.

And he wants you to invite him to begin changing you in ways you cannot change yourself.

So that you can love others. Why don’t you stop right now in your car or in your home.

And just say a prayer to God. Thank Him for what He’s done for you.

Acknowledge his love for you and ask him to begin loving others through you in that same way.

I’m John North.

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