The NIV 365-Day Devotional Reading PlanSample

The Source of Love

*Do you think you are ever hard to love?

*Think of someone who is hard to love. What would it take for you to be able to show that person love?

What if someone told you they loved you, but then spread a terrible rumor about you behind your back? Would you believe that person? Maybe if it happened once, you could forgive and move on. But if it happened over and over again, you’d have a good reason to doubt that person’s love.

As believers, we are supposed to love others as we love ourselves. Yet often we are guilty of treating people in unloving ways. We all do it, and that’s a shame, because it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, there’s no reason for it to be that way.

We can use the excuse that we’re only human, but it’s not human love that we rely on. According to 1 John 4:8, the God we serve is love. Everything that is loving or shows love comes from him. He is the source of all love.

As his children, we have constant access to his love. When we have a hard time feeling love for other people, we only need to ask God for his love. That’s what he wants us to do. If we’re not showing God’s love to others, we give people a reason to doubt whether God’s love is really in us or if God’s love is even real. And once doubt creeps in, trust is hard to regain.

Prayer

Dear God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for making your love available to us. Give us your love for others when we can’t do it ourselves. Amen.

Taken from Once a Day At the Table