My Bible app sends out a verse of the day every morning. On Sunday morning, the verse of the day was possibly one of the most memorized verses in the Bible, John 3:16.
“For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
When it first popped up on my phone, I didn’t give it much thought because it’s a verse that comes up so much, but God worked to give me a new perspective on the familiar verse.
Often, I think we tend to focus on the second part more: You have to believe in Jesus to be saved.
This is an important truth, possibly the most important truth, but last week my mind was drawn to the first phrase: “For God so loved the world that He gave…”
The focus of today’s devotional thought is that Love should be sacrificial.
Love is meant to be a motivator. It doesn’t say God gave us His Son because he felt obligated or because he waited around for someone else to fix the problem and nobody showed. He sacrificed because He so loved the world that He couldn’t bare to leave us alone and hopeless without providing a way out.
And this is the same love that he calls us to have for the world.
1 John 4:11 says, “since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
God is the ultimate teacher or parent. He knows that He could just give us instructions and tell us what to do, but we learn so much better if shown what to do. We just need to follow his example.
So what does it look like to love sacrificially? Going out of your way to show love may cost you your time, your money, your energy. It may cause you pain because loving someone else makes you vulnerable and your love may not always be returned.
“For God so loved that he gave.”
But what did he give to love you? He sacrificed his only Son. He didn’t hold back. He didn’t say it’s too expensive, or I can’t give that much. He said, “You are worth it.”
So who is God calling you to love today? What does that look like for you? What is it going to cost and are you willing to sacrifice in order to further God’s mission?