It is Valentine’s Day; a day when lovers share little sentiments of their affection with one another, often with cards, candy, flowers, stuffed animals or jewelry. The purpose is no doubt to generate money for these various products within our economy, but for those participating, it is all about sharing the love with someone special.
It is truly joyful to boast of your love for someone. You can shower them with praise and affection, and that showing of love brings warmth to your heart. That is a sampling of what it feels like to pour the love of Christ into someone’s life. As wonderful as that is, many believers go every day without experiencing that wonderful feeling.
The reason that many believers rarely, if ever, share the love of Christ with anyone is not because they don’t think that the Lord loves people, or because they are being rebellious against the Great Commission, but rather is because they have little knowledge of how loved that they are. The knowledge of how much God loves you will give you the power to share love with other people.
The apostle John writes of “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, and then never names himself in this gospel. This disciple whom Jesus loved is identified as the author of the book (John 21:24), so we know that John is referring to himself. Jesus certainly doesn’t love John more than He loves any of the other disciples, but it is John who recognizes the love of Jesus for him. This knowledge finds John leaning on Jesus’ bosom at the Last Supper, resting close to the heart of the Savior. Those who know how loved that they are do not run off looking for opportunity to sin, but rather they rest close to the heartbeat of the one who loves them so much.
John refers to himself in this manner a number of times in this book. The other usages show us John in various situations, always learning something new, as those who know that they are loved are always growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior.
On this day set aside by the world as a day of love, let’s think not only of our love for our spouse or our boyfriend or girlfriend, and not only of our love for the Lord, but let’s think of His love for us. The Apostle of Love would write in his first epistle, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). John is telling us that true love is not how much we love the Lord, but rather how much the Lord loves us. We cannot even know how to love Him without this knowledge, for “We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
Perhaps no poet or writer has ever captured the perfect love of God in any of their work, but one songwriter came very close. The Sunday school tune, “Jesus Loves Me” has been sang by children the world over and there may be no truer theology regarding the love of Christ for us all. Maybe every Christian should sing its lines from time to time, and rest in His matchless love:
Jesus loves me this I know,
For the Bible tells me so,
Little ones to Him belong,
They are blessed for He is strong.
Yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me,
The Bible tells me so
(If you enjoyed this devotion, and would like more information on this topic, contact the ministry and request Pastor Paul’s sermon titled, “The Love Secret of the Apostle John” on CD. It is our gift to you!)
It is truly joyful to boast of your love for someone. You can shower them with praise and affection, and that showing of love brings warmth to your heart. That is a sampling of what it feels like to pour the love of Christ into someone’s life. As wonderful as that is, many believers go every day without experiencing that wonderful feeling.
The reason that many believers rarely, if ever, share the love of Christ with anyone is not because they don’t think that the Lord loves people, or because they are being rebellious against the Great Commission, but rather is because they have little knowledge of how loved that they are. The knowledge of how much God loves you will give you the power to share love with other people.
The apostle John writes of “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, and then never names himself in this gospel. This disciple whom Jesus loved is identified as the author of the book (John 21:24), so we know that John is referring to himself. Jesus certainly doesn’t love John more than He loves any of the other disciples, but it is John who recognizes the love of Jesus for him. This knowledge finds John leaning on Jesus’ bosom at the Last Supper, resting close to the heart of the Savior. Those who know how loved that they are do not run off looking for opportunity to sin, but rather they rest close to the heartbeat of the one who loves them so much.
John refers to himself in this manner a number of times in this book. The other usages show us John in various situations, always learning something new, as those who know that they are loved are always growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior.
On this day set aside by the world as a day of love, let’s think not only of our love for our spouse or our boyfriend or girlfriend, and not only of our love for the Lord, but let’s think of His love for us. The Apostle of Love would write in his first epistle, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). John is telling us that true love is not how much we love the Lord, but rather how much the Lord loves us. We cannot even know how to love Him without this knowledge, for “We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
Perhaps no poet or writer has ever captured the perfect love of God in any of their work, but one songwriter came very close. The Sunday school tune, “Jesus Loves Me” has been sang by children the world over and there may be no truer theology regarding the love of Christ for us all. Maybe every Christian should sing its lines from time to time, and rest in His matchless love:
Jesus loves me this I know,
For the Bible tells me so,
Little ones to Him belong,
They are blessed for He is strong.
Yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me,
The Bible tells me so
(If you enjoyed this devotion, and would like more information on this topic, contact the ministry and request Pastor Paul’s sermon titled, “The Love Secret of the Apostle John” on CD. It is our gift to you!)
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