JOHN 14:21 – Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

THEME OF THE DAY: HOW CAN IT BE?   Before we get off and running with today’s nugget, I want to add an Old Testament scripture to the John 14 passage. It is a wonderful complement and comes from the prophet Zephaniah – The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing (Zephaniah 3:17).

Do we see the connection between the two passages? It is love; God’s love for us. I know that you know God loves us.  But I want to challenge us to really know God loves us, not just a passing nod of this truth, but a knowledge that is transformational.  And what do I mean by transformational? It would be this.  We are so overwhelmed by the love of God that He becomes our everything in life.  We think of Him consistently. We talk to Him as a natural part of our lives.  We make His glory the end goal in all decisions in our lives from the use of our time, money, choices of entertainment, recreation, and company we keep.  We long more for heaven to be with Him than to have anything or be with anyone in this world.  We yearn to see more people become followers of Him and consistently share the Gospel to that end.  We groan deeply within ourselves to be more like Him, and free from the ugly selfishness that prevents such complete conformity in this world.  Basically, we are defining what drove everything in the life of the Apostle Paul when he wrote, “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21) and that was because he knew, really knew, how God loved him.

So, how do we get to the place we may say, “For me to live is Christ” and God knows it is true, that all areas of our lives, public and private, are surrendered and under the complete control of Christ? Back to transformation. It is the power of God’s love emptying us of self-love and motivating us to a life of love for Him evidenced by obedience to His commands.  But how do we experience this transforming love?  Two ways.

First, we earnestly pray for it, and I mean earnestly, like daily, maybe multiple times a day.  It is the prayer of the Apostle Paul found in Ephesians 3 – For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:14-19).

Then, take today’s nugget theme and expand it in our reasoning . . . . “How can it be that God would so love me and I not so love Him back?”  Once we truly know the love of God, we cannot help but develop a life of sacrificial and consistent obedience to His commands because we know that is how He has told us we love Him. So, may we be transformed by His love so we may love Him as He so richly deserves.

PRAYER: “Father, I am humbly overwhelmed by Your love for me.”

QUOTE: “How can it be that God would love us and we not wholeheartedly love Him back?”