Today's Readings: New Testament -
Mark 8:14-21
2 John 1:1-13
Old Testament -
Job 19
Daniel 3-4
Click on Text Links to Read Online
Focus Verses: 2 John 1:5b-6
5b I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
Insight:
Love for God moves us to draw near to him and to obey his commands. Drawing near to God and obeying his commands moves us to love others. Love for God, and love for others—each one feeds the other. The more we love God, the more ready and able we are to love others. The more we love others, the more we recognize our need to know and love and obey God.
Response and Action:
I want to love God with my whole being. I want to know his word and obey his commands. I need God to work in my life and make me able to love others. I will put my love for God into action by making every effort to obey him and live by his word. I will follow Christ's example and yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit as I make every effort to love others.
O God, help me to love you with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my mind, and with all my strength. Help me to love my neighbor as myself. Make me more able to love others as I follow Christ and the example he has given. By your word and the power and grace of your Holy Spirit, lead, teach, transform, shape, and strengthen me, that I might delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your name. Amen.
Spiritual Formation Verses: Ephesians 5:15-18
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Resources:
Surrender to Love: Discovering the Heart of Christian Spirituality
by David G. Benner
