Transmission - Video
(Right click on the video to play)
Transmission - Devo
Day Four - Real love
1 John 4:9-16 (NLT) - God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love - not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
Just as there is imitation meat, there is imitation love. Imitation love only mimics the motions (for a time at least), but real love is not like that. Real love comes from the Spirit who lives in us. In all of history, the truest human being with the fullest expression of God's love was Jesus. As we read the passages from the previous days, we saw that Jesus came to help the needy, the sick, and the shattered. We see that His real love went beyond the physical needs alone. He moved and touched lives in the deepest ways; He blotted out their sins and gave them a way to love Him and love others.
Jesus has not only shown real love, but now has also become the source of real love: for the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. As His children, we, too can love others with real love. We can go beyond the mere motions and concerns about physical needs alone. We can see the real love which Jesus gives to us touch another's life deeply, bringing to them to the source of real love, hope, and healing for their broken lives.
Responding to the Transmitted Message: Let's begin by asking for the Spirit to fill us and lead us. Let's ask that this love would not be an imitation of movements or actions, but real love that responds to people's needs and shows them God's great love. Love is from God; and as we receive this love from God, let's pray that He would increase the love we have for one another. Let's pray that His love be fully expressed in His church.
