Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

Today’s devotion comes from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

 

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous;  love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly;  it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”  1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

 

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“God is love”.  1 John 4:16.

 

God is patient.  “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”  2 Peter 3:9 

 

God is kind.  “The LORD is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds.”  Psalm 145:17

                          

God “does not take into account a wrong suffered” from His people.  “Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all transgressions.”  Proverbs 10:12.  “… God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”  2 Corinthians 5:19  It is time to pause and consider that God only loves His people.  For the non-elect, the wicked, God does not love them, but rather, God does take into account a wrong suffered from them, and God does count their trespasses against them. 

 

God bore the sins of His people:  “so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”  Hebrews 9:28

                            

God endured the cross.  Let us fix our eyes “… on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  Hebrews 12:2.

 

God bears fruit.  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control;  against such things there is no law.”  Galatians 5:22-23. 

 

In conclusion, we should not think of “love” just as an abstract concept.  Rather, we should think of love as personified in God.  “God is love”.  Yesterday’s devotion focused on God as the source of love.  Today’s Scripture focuses on the specific qualities of love, namely God’s qualities.

 

And, God’s love is not just a warm, cozy feeling.  God’s love is heroic!  God’s love saves! 
   
“But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”  Titus 3:4-7.