Do Something

Daily Reading:  1 John 3

And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. (1 John 3.23)

Devotional Thought: In 1 John 3, the Apostle hammers home the need to do something with our faith.  He would be in full agreement with James who said, “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2.17).  And what exactly is the action that should flow out from a true, living faith?  (Notice that action flows out from the faith by which we are saved.  We are not saved by our actions.)  The action which accompanies true faith is twofold: believing in Jesus and loving others:

• Believe in the name of Jesus.  John had heard Jesus teach this very thing: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (John 6.29).  God loves us with an undying love, and he offers us salvation through his Son.  In order to accept that love, we must believe in his Son with all our heart.  After all, the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength!

• Love one another.  God is not content that we should have a love that is only vertical.  Our love must have a horizontal dimension as well.  "If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen" (1 John 4.20).  This love is not just sentimental feelings: “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 2.15-16).  God’s kind of love does something about it!

Do something!

Prayer: Lord, help me to do something with my faith: to love you in ways that make a difference in my life and to love others in ways that make a difference in their lives.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 129.1-4

1 "Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth"-- let Israel now say--

2 "Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.

3 The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows."

4 The LORD is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked.