The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 27 April 2024 – We Display True Love When We Walk After God’s Commandments
TOPIC: We Display True Love When We Walk After God’s Commandments
READ: 2 John 1: 5-6 (NKJV)
- And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another.
- This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.
The MESSAGE:
The commandments of God are not grievous. If we decide to keep the commandments, we can follow the example of Daniel who resolved in his heart not to defile himself with king’s rich food. Concrete determination to keep God’s commandments in our hearts is the first step to keeping the commandments. Love does not stand alone, it goes with several qualities, thus: Love does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right, it is not boastful, arrogant or rude (1 Cor. 13: 4-5).
The totality of God’s word condemns wrong and approves things that are right. This is what love does also – if brotherly love will continue, it must be in accordance with the word of God. “And this is love, that we walk after His commandments“(2 John 1: 6). God is love, and love is of God. He who loves is born of God and knows God. However, how do we know that we love the children of God? It is when we obey God’s commandments. The emphasis is on keeping the commandments of God which is also a demonstration that we fear God. Jesus made it clear that those who hear the word of God and do the same are his family and not hearers who deceive themselves. You are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin which leads to death, or of obedience which leads to righteousness. Love by its qualities covers a multitude of sins and is the fulfilling of the law. Let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth. Fearing God by keeping His commandments is real love.
PRAYER: God, help us not to love in word or speech but in deed, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
