Thursday, April 30, 2015

Self-giving love

1 JOHN 4:7-11
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 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. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.

Thank you, Lord,
for showing us
what love looks like.

You revealed your love
by coming among us
so that we might live!
Self-giving love.

That's how true love is.
Love gives from itself.
Not demanding from others,
but offering itself up
for the good of the other.

Often, Lord, I think
about the way a parent loves a child.
Getting up in the night,
sacrificing his/her wants for the child's benefit.

Yet, Lord, you call us
to have that same quality of love
--self-giving love--
for one another in the church.

What does it look like
for church members
sisters and brothers in Christ
to give of themselves
for the good of the other?
What does self-giving love
look like in the church?

How might church be different?
How might the world be different?

"Since God loved us so much,
we also ought to love one another."

Today
I pray for your church,
O Christ.
May we love as you love
a self-giving love
for the good of the other.
Amen.

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