Devotional - Day 2

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For many of us, our view of God is based largely on our life experiences—particularly with our own fathers and mothers. By recalling truths about God and by recalling our own life experiences, we can become aware of who God is, how he has moved in our lives, and how his promises for future hope can be trusted.

Our thoughts about God determine much more than how we view him— they reveal and determine how we will approach all of life. When Jesus walked this earth, he demonstrated an eternal connection to the Father and revealed the heart of God. By looking to Jesus—in his actions, in his teachings, and in how his closest friends characterized him—we find the most accurate picture of God.

One of Jesus’ closest friends and followers, the disciple John, would go on to write the Gospel of John, Revelation, and the three letters we know as 1, 2, and 3 John. These five books are excellent places to discover not just the life and teaching of Jesus, but how Jesus thought about his Father.

So, what is God like?

First, John says that God is a father. By sending “his one and only Son,” God demonstrates that fatherhood is central to his identity and being. He has eternally existed as a Father, and the Son, Jesus Christ, has eternally enjoyed the fellowship of a good and perfect Father.

Second, John twice writes the famous words: God is love. God is not simply loving or full of love; He is love. In other words, love is not the primary thing and God secondary; “love comes from God,” meaning love can only be understood as an offspring of God’s nature.

Third, John tells us that God is for us. The Father did not wait for us to find our way to Him; we could never make it on our own, not given our sin against Him. God demonstrates his love for us—you and me and the whole world—by sending his only Son, so “that we might live through him.”

How could you not be transformed, encouraged, and strengthened by such a great God?

We all hold false images of him, doubt his love for us at times, and question his ability to fully provide for us. But he nonetheless invites us to bring those false images, doubts, and fears to him. He already knows what’s in our hearts and minds; bring these things before his throne of mercy and find healing in the love and power of his presence.

 

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1 John 4:7-10

7 Those who are loved by God, let his love continually pour from you to one another, because God is love. Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him. 8 The one who doesn’t love has yet to know God, for God is love. 9 The light of God’s love shined within us when he sent his matchless Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 This is love: He loved us long before we loved him. It was his love, not ours. He proved it by sending his Son to be the pleasing sacrificial offering to take away our sins.

 

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