The Marvelous Power Of God's Love

"Today's Devotion" For June 20, 2005

Read: I John 4:7-21; Psalm 86

THE MARVELOUS POWER OF GOD'S LOVE

"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another...We love because He first loved us."(I Jn.4:11,19)

This past week I attended a presentation by a man who specializes in, for want of a better description, the field of "Educational Kinesiology." He talks about and demonstrates how "energy" or "electrical" fields surround our bodies and can have remarkable influence on our energy level, comprehension, emotions, and other important human characteristics. One of his demonstrations centered in people thinking negatively about a person and that persons' energy level being negatively affected by those thoughts. When the thoughts were switched to positive or neutral content, the person previously affected negatively, had his or her energy level restored. Now, on one level this sounds like the ultimate in Science Fiction. On another level, looking at what science has discovered in the last ten years about the human brain, it's more plausible and realistic. In the light of what John has to say in our Scripture reading for today, such demonstrations suggest a greater meaning of the power of “love” than we might realize.

If we go all the way back to the Garden of Eden we are reminded that Man's original relationship with God was one of harmony and peace. Adam and Eve lived in perfect harmony with their Creator. His will was their will, until that fateful day when Satan, through the serpent, laid out that terrible temptation, and mankind fell into the darkness and despair of Sin and separation from God. Not only did Satan plant doubt about God's Will in Adam and Eve's minds, but he also cast God in an unfavorable light and contradicted what He had said to be true. The result was disobedience and fear. Adam and Eve's physical nakedness became the evidence of their broken relationship with God. The ravages of Sin were immediately evident. The first couple hid themselves from God. God called them to repentance but they blamed Him and each other for their plight. The very ingredient that bound them to God, love, had been displaced by selfishness, self-centeredness, and greed. Those very same things also drove a wedge between Man and Creation and between human beings. Loving another was no longer automatic because Sin had blurred the reality of love with the reality of death.

At the same time, God's love for Adam and Eve never ceased. While in His righteousness and holiness, handing down His pure judgment, He made them aware of the consequences of their behavior, He still showed them His love by not destroying them, by clothing them, and, crucially, driving them from the Garden of Eden so that they wouldn't eat of the "Tree of Life," live forever, and be forever lost to Him and unable to receive His love. Throughout history, God's love, demonstrated through those whom He chose to carry it to the world, has touched the lives of people suffering the ravages of Sin and has lifted them up to Him filled with joy and peace, hope and comfort.

The power of God's love changes people's lives. As we love others in response to God's love for us, we become His instruments of peace and hope in the world. It's God's love that motivates Him to send Jesus to pay the penalty for the sins of the whole world on the Cross. Through the power of that great love and sacrifice of Christ, Sin, Death, and Satan have been defeated. Their power over those who receive God's love in Christ by faith is broken. The healing power of God’s love is restored to the lives of believers so they can share that same love with others.

God's love is a very real power for change, for good, for forgiveness, for hope, and for eternal life. In Christ, God's love becomes a reality that has freed us from the bondage of Sin which would keep us tied to selfishness, self- centeredness, and greed. As He comes to us in Christ, we are empowered to live in His love and share it boldly and tirelessly with others. It's His love that sustains our life and living, which gives us hope and peace, and which helps us to love others, even when they are "unlovable," just as He has done for us. Because of God's unceasing love for us in Christ we are moved to love one another and share that same love with the world. The marvelous power of God's love brings hope and peace to our lives and also to those whom we touch every day. By His love we are empowered to make a huge difference in this world.

Prayer: Father, because of Your great love for Your Creation You provided for our redemption rather than destroy us when Adam and Eve first sinned. Throughout the history of the world You continued to provide avenues through which Your love could flow into the hearts and lives of people and restore them to You. In Christ Jesus, my Savior and Lord, You gave Your greatest gift of love as the power of Your love was revealed, not just in healing the sick, restoring the maimed, dumb, crippled, and blind, or raising the dead, but in His ultimate sacrifice for my sins on the Cross. So great is the power of Your love, Father, that Jesus' sacrifice didn't end with His death, but culminated in His victory over Sin, Death, Satan, and the grave when He arose on the third day. Father, I pray that each day You would shower me with Your love in Christ, that in the power of Your love I might have the courage and strength to share Your love with others so they also might know the fullness of life with You through faith in Jesus Christ; in Whose precious and most holy name I pray. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright © 2005 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.