Thursday: You Have Freely Received; Freely Give
Daily Lesson for Thursday 9th of January 2025
Just as the servant could never repay his debt to his master, we can never repay God. We could never earn or merit God’s love. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, NKJV). What amazing love! As 1 John 3:1 puts it, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (NKJV).
However, what we can and should do is to reflect God’s love to others as much as we possibly can. If we have received such great compassion and forgiveness, how much more should we bestow compassion and forgiveness on others? Recall that the servant forfeited his master’s compassion and forgiveness because he failed to bestow them on his fellow servant. If we truly love God, we will not fail to reflect His love to others.
Read John 15:12, 1 John 3:16, and 1 John 4:7-12. What do these passages teach about the relationship between God’s love, our love for God, and love for others?
Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com
Just after John 15:12, Jesus told His disciples, “ ‘You are My friends if you do whatever I command you’ ” (John 15:14, NKJV). And what did Jesus command them? Among other things, Jesus commanded them (and us) to love others even as He loved them. Here and elsewhere, the Lord commands us to love God and to love one another.
In short, we should recognize that we have been forgiven an infinite debt, one that we can never repay, a debt paid only at the cross for us. Therefore, we should love and praise God and live with love and grace toward others. As Luke 7:47 teaches, the one who is forgiven much loves much, but “ ‘to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little’ ” (NKJV). And who among us doesn’t realize just how much he or she has been forgiven?
If to love God entails that we love others, we should with urgency share the message of God’s love, both in word and in deed. We should help people in their daily lives here and now, and also seek to be a conduit of God’s love and point people to the One who offers them the promise of eternal life in a new heaven and a new earth—an entirely new creation from this world, which is so marred and ravaged by sin and death, the doleful fruits of rejecting God’s love.
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What specific steps can you take to love God by loving others? What could you do today and in the coming days to show people God’s love and (eventually) invite them to enjoy what it means to have the promise of eternal life? |
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When he wrote these words, Hadumat Meir Ben Isaac Nehorai was a Jewish Rabbi living in Worms, Germany. That same year the Crusaders swept through and killed every Jew in the town,
Many of us are familiar with these words because they were included in a 1917 hymn called " The Love of God." It was written by Frederick Lehman, a Christian minister in Pasadena, California, who was down on his luck and working as a packer in a citrus processor.
They are beautiful words but when we stop to think about the love of God, all the words are meaningless if we do not put the power of God's love in our actions towards others. That the love of God is either misunderstood or ignored in our time is exacerbated by the hypocrisy of Christians who talk about the love of God and who act selfishly. God does not need us, but he wants to use us to share his love to others.
"By this shall all men know ..."
Note to self: write less - act more!
Do any of you sympathize a bit with Martha when Jesus said that Mary had chosen the better part? Who was supposed to make the food and prepare for the comfort of others if everyone sat at Jesus' feet all the time? Why didn't Jesus tell Mary to go help her sister with the chores?
I think what Jesus was trying to say had to do with this "freely you have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:8). We can't "freely give" (give without resentment) if we haven't first freely received from Jesus. Our giving will feel stingy or "off" to others, and be with weariness and frustration on our part, if we're drilling down for some refreshment to share out of a dry well. With this water analogy, I'm picturing the humidifiers I am currently filling all day long to put moisture back into our dry house with the winter heat running all the time. As I'm filling the plastic jug, eventually it is full and the water starts running over the top. The water pouring out as an overflow, THAT is what Martha was to draw from to prepare the meal for her guests. If she had spent enough time with Jesus one-on-one first, she would have been full of love and energy, enough to share with others.
Practical application? I'm so tired, and with the exhaustion comes the realization that my service to others is "off". I just asked someone to lead the adult Sabbath School discussion for me this week so that I can go have alone time with Jesus. I'll be free to give again once I've freely received.
The highest calling in Christian life, and perhaps the most challenging one is to love other fellow human beings as God has loved us. The Bible gently reminds us that God has loved us freely and unconditionally even when we did not deserve that “extravagant” love (Romans 5:8. The Bible pleads with us to love one another, and if we do so, we shall have fulfilled all of God’s laws (Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8). How possibly can sinners start loving as God loves? How possibly does loving others with God’s love look like in practical sense?
Transcending above personal self-centeredness, greed, and self-interest is purely the work of the Holy Spirit working in our hearts. The capacity to love with God’s love only happens when have totally surrendered to the love of God and the Holy Spirit. This love belongs to God. We must experience it ourselves first (1 John 4:19). We cannot give what we do not have! Only the Holy Spirit who can give us the capacity to love others as God has loved us (Galatians 5: 22-23). In our quest to love others as God has loved us, we need the Holy Spirit to give us humility. Humility is God’s wonderful power to control our self-centeredness. Cultivating humility will be very instrumental in seeing others as worthy to be loved (Philippians 2:3). Seriously, by the grace of God (Holy Spirit), may we consider forgiving others even as we make serious attempts to love them (Colossians 3:13).
Loving others as God has loved us should be tangible, visible, and meaningful. Our love for others must translate into kindness, forgiveness, compassion, patience, caring and generosity. We cannot claim to love others and yet do nothing. For instance, Jesus said, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). God’s love has got power to do the impossibles.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13)
Love is a mystery. It is also the most powerful energy on this planet. Staying in touch with the source of love is the safest place to be and the best way to share it.
1 John 4:9---We are to "Live" through Jesus not "Die" through Him!
God's love never fails, my love for him and for my fellow man often fails. Lord forgive me for not loving you as you deserve to be loved by me. Help me and we, to see ourselves and others through your eyes of love. Help us to see Jesus in them. As we have done, or not done unto others, we have done, or not done unto you.