Love
Excerpt from day 25 of 28
https://my.bible.com/reading-plans/22462-bibleproject-advent-reflections
The God of the Bible doesn’t just express love; he is love. As a triune God⏤Father, Son, and Spirit⏤he has always been and will always be an others-centered, self-giving, communal being. Jesus, the Son, fully embodies the love of God and demonstrates it most clearly when he gives his life on behalf of humanity. When people learn to trust Jesus’ love for them, they join in God’s community of love, and their very nature is transformed to love others with him.
Read:
1 John 4:8: He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1 John 4:16: And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
1 John 3:16: Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
John 15:9-13: As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Reflection and Discussion Questions:
- Take note of the phrase “come to know and believe.” How is knowing and believing God’s love for us a process?
- Jesus and his disciples compared his love to a place where you can live or “abide.” To truly live somewhere, we first have to move in, unpack, and learn the space and how to operate in it. What else do people do when they live somewhere? How can this compare to what it’s like to trust in Jesus’ love?
