Evident Love

‘Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples’John.13:35

‘Give as freely as you have received!’ Matt.10:8b. God expects us to love others with the same kind of evident love He has for us. The love that was in effect even while we were still deep in sin [Rom.5:8]. God wants us to freely give the same kind of love that we have freely received. It is in our evident expressions of love that we prove to the world that we belong to God. ‘If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them!’ Luke 6:32. It is in loving your enemies that you witness Christ Jesus. Let people be led to Jesus just by the evident love that you display. A lot of us are brought up to think that the love we receive is conditional. Erroneously as children we felt that if we were good then our parents loved us and when we got naughty their love was suspended. Your child must know that your love for them is unconditional, regardless of what they do or don’t do. God’s love for us is unconditional. ‘And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love’ Romans.8:38. People around you need to experience this kind of love from you as well. This is the kind of love that breaks barriers and introduces the light of God to the most stubborn hearts. Love has to be deliberate and it is not something you can do in your strength alone. The love that God prescribes is patient and kind; it is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  The kind of love that never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance [1 Cor.13:4-7]. People may not remember the clothes you wore or the car you drove in but people never forget how you love them. ‘Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love’1Cor.13:13

Prayer: Father, help me put on love deliberately every day. I pray that your love will ripple through me into my entire community. Help me freely give love without conditions, in Jesus Name.