Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, July 11, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
While love can be a mutual act, it doesn’t have to be. Jesus makes it clear that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength (and our neighbors as ourselves). But the writer of 1 John turns this on it’s head a little when he declares that our love for God isn’t the main thing—it only happens because God loved us first, so much that God showed up on the face of the planet in the body of a human being who took that love to the cross and went to hell and back for us. Like… I can’t even. We didn’t deserve it then, and no amount of loving God and neighbor makes us deserve it now. And yet, paradoxically, God declares that we absolutely deserved it then and deserve it now because God says so! Because God went and did it already! Honestly, when you really think about it, how can you not be overwhelmed with gratitude and joy?
Where do I see God’s love in action in my life?
