Neville Turley

“If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”  1 John 4:15-16 (NIV)

All of us are individuals in our own right with our own unique DNA. Our cultures, languages and living standards differ widely, but we all have one desire in common – a yearning for love.

Sadly there are those who for fear of being hurt and rejected may sometimes shut their minds to love and try to carve an existence devoid of love. They are greatly to be pitied.

God’s word makes it very clear that if we do not have love, we have nothing and will get nowhere.  (1 Corinthians 13: 1-3)

Unfortunately the word love is used so widely in everyday language that it covers a host of meanings ranging from the basest to the divine.

Our verse for today promises that love is the very nature of God.  God is love.  God’s love is the foundation on which every perfect relationship on heaven and on earth is based.  It is the essence which unites God, the archangels, angels and the whole company of heaven with God’s faithful here on earth.

Christian love is not exclusive. It is open to all who acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God. That is the prerequisite.

Jesus testified to the love his father had for him and made it possible for his followers to share in that love.  (John 17:26)

We have the glorious promise that God lives in us and the Holy Spirit helps us to fulfil the two greatest commandments. ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.”  (Luke 10:27)

These commandments would be absolutely impossible to obey if it was not for the Holy Spirit perfecting our faith.

Prayer: Almighty God, may the Holy Spirit help us to love you as we ought and our neighbour as our self.  This we ask in Jesus name.  Amen