I John 4:7-12
7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.
Many summers ago (and a long time before I became a grandparent) I started reading children’s books to disciples of all ages in our Good News for God’s Children sermon series. One of the first children’s books to capture my imagination with what I felt was God’s Word to me was Love Your Forever. In this simple story, and in God’s extended word to us in the Bible, I am still surprised by God’s steadfast love.
Prayer
God, Your love for us is overwhelming. Let me accept Your love freely, and share it in the same manner as I live each day as a disciple of my Lord and Savior, Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.