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.