READ: 1 John 4:16-21
MEMORY VERSE
“We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
BACKGROUND
Woody Cooper stood in the loud mob the day Dorothy Counts, a Black girl, enrolled in his all-White high school in North Carolina.
Taunting her, some boys yelled racial slurs and threw trash at Dorothy, but Woody didn’t rebuke them, even staying silent when a woman cried out, “Spit on her, girls!” He later asked himself, Why didn’t you at least say something? She was just another student coming to school.
Haunted for decades by his sin of omission, especially after seeing himself in a news photo from that day, Woody finally reached out to Dorothy forty-nine years later to apologize.
As Woody learned, showing love and support for another human being isn’t just being brave; it’s also making a choice to be like Jesus. John the apostle taught this lesson to churches burdened by false teaching about Christ and His love.
“We love because He first loved us,” John wrote. “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar” (1 John 4:19-20). John recalled this great command: “Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister” (v. 21).
Woody and Dorothy reflected that love as they became close friends. They spoke at churches and schools together. On the night before he died, she came to see him. “I loved him,” she said, “and I know that he loved me.”
That’s the Jesus way. It can be our way too, as God brings us together in His transforming love.
Patricia Raybon
INSIGHT
Jesus loves us so much He made a way for us to be with Him forever by dying on the cross for our sins (John 3:16; Romans 5:8). All we need to do is believe in Him and come to Him in repentance. Christ says to “love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12; see 1 John 4:11).
We exhibit this love by being “devoted to one another” and honoring others “above ourselves” (Romans 12:10), by not harming each other (13:10), and by “[carrying] each other’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2).
This love is beautifully described in 1 Corinthians 13 as “patient, . . . kind, . . . not self-seeking, . . . not easily angered” (vv. 4-5). It “does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth” (v. 6).
This love is possible only through the Holy Spirit’s work in us—transforming us to be more like Christ (Romans 5:5; 2 Corinthians 3:18) and enabling us to truly love others.
Alyson Kieda
APPLICATION
When did you fail to love like Christ? How can you better show His love?
PR’s (Pastor Richard) RE-EMPHASIS (From Today’s Post)
This love (described in 1 Corinthians 13) is possible only through the Holy Spirit’s work in us—transforming us to be more like Christ …and enabling us to truly love others.
PR’s TAKE
“…God is not one to show partiality (so should we).” Acts 10:34*
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
PRAYER
“Please guide me to love like You, Jesus.”
TODAY’S HYMN/WORSHIP/PRAISE/GOSPEL SONG
“IN CHRIST THERE IS NO EAST OR WEST”
In Christ there is no east or west,
In Him no south or north,
But one great fellowship of love
Thru’out the whole wide Earth.
In Him shall true hearts ev’rywhere
Their high communion find.
His service is the golden cord
Close binding humankind
Join hands, then, children of the faith,
Whate’er your race may be!
Who serves my Father as a child
Is surely kin to me.
In Christ now meet both east and west,
In Him meet south and north;
All Christly souls are one in Him,
Thru’out the whole wide Earth.
