Tuesday, July 10

Love is Greater than Fear

Narrative Lectionary Daily Devotions written by Kace Leetch from Clergy Stuff.

I like the way this is phrased -- "Since God loved us... we also ought to love." It's significant that it doesn't say, "If you want God to love you, you must first love others." It's especially significant for the time, because it was widely believed that God and the gods demanded more of humans than they offered. If people wanted something from them, people had to bend over backwards to offer something first -- money, a living sacrifice, even sometimes another person.

But God is different from the gods. God doesn't expect more from us than we are able to give. And God doesn't make our giving a requirement for our receiving -- at least not love. No, our God gives love. Period. And since God gives love, we are freed to give love in return. Love and fear do not live in the same space. If we are freed from the burden of fearing God, we are freed to love God and others. 

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Narrative Lectionary Text: 1 John 4:11-12

Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.