Notas del episodio
Read 1 John 4:7-21
Wholehearted
God is wholehearted for us - and in response, he wants us to be wholehearted for him.
While it sounds like a demand imposed on us, this is really for our good - when we give more of ourselves to God, we gain more in return.
But when we only give him half the trust, if we only give him half our hearts, the result is that we have half the joy, half the peace, half the hope that he intends for us.
He offers us a life-sustaining, life-transforming relationship, but to get the most out of it, we need to be all in. We need to be wholehearted.
But how do we become wholehearted?
Do we do it by trying harder? Pushing more, sacrificing more, straining more, performing more? No. God doesn’t demand that we sort ourselves out and make ourselves worthy of him.
He doesn’t confront us with guilt, but forgiveness. He doesn’t confront us with condemnation, but with his astonishing grace. He doesn’t overwhelm us with shame, but with his never-ceasing love.
This passage reminds us that any response on our part is only a response to his love for us.
“We love because he first loved us”
Over the next few days, we’re going to look at God’s amazing love for us. After that, we’ll spend time thinking about how we can respond with wholehearted love for him.
The prayer we’re going to come back to is this:
Loving Father, use this season to make us as wholehearted for you as you are for us.
As we begin, here’s a question to consider:
What motivates you to love and obey God? Is it the fear of coming judgement, the shame of being caught out, the guilt of falling short? The need to prove yourself worthy?
What if, instead, your motivation was fueled by a deeper and deeper knowledge of his love for you - his love that came first?
Prayer:
Loving Father, please use this season to make us as wholehearted for you as you are for us. And so I pray, whatever it takes, Lord, let me know how much you love me.
Use these devotions over the next few weeks to give me the power, together with all God’s people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. Amen.