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"Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
(1 John 4:11)
We have been discussing the love of God for us and the love we should exhibit toward others. We have discussed 1 John 4:11 a couple of times, but I want to revisit this powerful verse in our devotion today.
Oh, how deep and unfathomable is the love of God. It is sacrificial and unconditional. Since God has loved us this way, we ought to love one another in the same manner. Verse 11 moves us from the theological to the practical. Those who have encountered the agape love of God, the sacrificing love of God, now must go and give this same kind of love to others, particularly those in the church.
This is such an incredible verse. Please understand what the beloved pastor and apostle is saying. Because of God's love for us, we ought to love others. The word translated "ought" is a present tense verb. We ought to continually love. Notice this: one another. We are to love everyone in the Church of Jesus Christ all over the world. The best place to start and see that lived out is in your local community of faith, the ekklesia in your city, your local church.
What are you doing at your church to obey this word? What are you doing to manifest your love? Since love, agape, involves sacrifice, what are you sacrificing to demonstrate the authenticity of your love?
There is no question that the people associated with Charlotte Diggs Moon saw God at work in her life. Charlotte was born in Virginia in 1840. In 1854, Charlotte, also called Lottie, went to college and later graduated from the Albemarle Female Institute in Charlottesville. Lottie was baptized when she was 19 years old at the FBC of Charlottesville, Virginia in the spring of 1859. She felt a definite call to serve God in missions, and on July 7, 1873, the SBC appointed her to North China where she served for nearly 40 years. She never married, though there was a man who asked her to marry him. Crawford Toy was a professor of languages at the University of Virginia. She declined his proposal because he changed his views about Scripture. She was later asked if she had ever been in love. She said, "Yes, but God had the first claim." Toward the end of her service in China, a terrible famine hit Pingtu, China. She gave all the food she had to her people and literally starved to death. She slipped into a coma, but what happened next was amazing. She began to greet deceased friends and family as if she were entering into heaven. She spoke English to the Americans and Chinese to the Chinese. Lottie Moon died December 24, 1912: Christmas Eve.
God may not be calling you to give your life away in a foreign field of service, or He may... but rest assured, if you know God, who is love, then you will love, and it will not be the exception to your life but the normal pattern of how you live as a child of God.
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