MUST LOVE

Dining with Jesus Christian Episodes

PASTOR RYAN LADEN – DEVOTIONALS

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Follow me here. I want to talk to you about the love of God for a moment. 

Received

If you have received the love of God by receiving Jesus Christ as the Savior of your soul and the Lord of your life, then the love of God is in you. 

Impact

If the immeasurable love of God is in you, then this love will impact your choices, desires, attitudes, action, and future plans. Everything and everyone in your life will be impacted by the way in which the love of God works in you.

Overflow

If the love of God is flowing out of you, then this love will overflow into the people that God has placed into your path in life. Not just the people who love you back, but even the people who call themselves your enemies and opponents. 

The love of God is a tangible gift and it is either in you or it is not. 

As we are about to hear in the passage that follows, if we have this love in us, it will be seen in our relationships. 

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

(1 John 4:19-21 NIV11)

Verse 19 – “We love because he first loved us.”

We are not responsible for God’s love. The Lord has chosen to extend his affections to his creation not because we are lovable but because it is the will of God to love us. 

If we love the Lord, it is because he has shown us what grace and mercy looks like and feels like through the work of his Spirit, the truth of his word and the example of his church. We have been shown love by Jesus Christ as he has come into our lives and become the sacrifice that our sinful souls needed. 

Verse 20a – “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.”

Love and hate are not two sides of the same coin. 

Love and hate are antithetical, opposites. They cannot and do not coexist. If we want to live in the love of God, then we must see hatred for others as something that cannot share space in our hearts and minds with the love of God. 

Verse 20b – “For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen”

This seems pretty easy to understand. If we are unwilling to love those that the Lord places into our sphere of influence, then how likely will we be to love the Lord?

If his love does not lead us to love others, then we are not living in his love. 

Verse 21 – “And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”

We must love. Plain and simple. 

Love of God and hatred of man are like oil and water, they simply do not mix. 

The command of God is clear, embrace the love of God so much that it drives out the hate you have for others. 

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, I embrace your love for me. I want you to overwhelm and overflow my heart. I want your love to wash away the bitterness and hatred I have for those who have hurt me and damaged my family. I want your love to drown out the hate that I harbor for my enemies. I cannot make these changes on my own, so I embrace your love wholly and completely.

In Christ, 

Ryan Laden

PASTOR RYAN LADEN


Works at MTN. CHURCH

Former Senior pastor at Warnbro Community Church

Studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Studied at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Studied at Baylor University

Studied at Texas Tech University

Went to Castle Hills First Baptist

Copyright © 2024 Ryan Laden – All Rights Reserved.

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