Pause

What good is love, really, unless it is true?

Actually, love requires trust, and none is more trustworthy than our Creator.

Trust God now to show you trustworthy love, and to grow it more deeply within you.

Listen

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. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

1 John 4:9-12

Think

It’s hard to show love from a distance, isn’t it? Phone calls, texts, emails, and cards are all well and good, but they just can’t compete with a genuine hug.

God had shown love to the world from the beginning – through nature, covenants, leaders, prophets, miracles, and the Hebrew scriptures. Those were just not the same, though, as reaching out and physically touching the people God created and loved.

So God sent Jesus into the world in order to give love in the most direct and personal way. Jesus then sent his followers out to continue the work. Because God lives in us, we are the presence of God on earth. When we love one another, God’s love reaches through our hands and arms to hug the world.

Julie Ball

Pray

Loving God, thank you for all the ways you show love. Thank you for showing love to me and through me. Open my eyes every day to the people to whom I can give your loving touch. Amen.

Go

Hear the voice of God so tender, gathering us in righteousness.
Giving, as our sure defender,
Steadfast love and faithfulness.

Bless God's holy name together, as the Spirit brings new life.
Giving, as our sure defender,
Steadfast love and faithfulness.

Lavon Bayler