Jackson Community Church

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Jan 26: Daily Devotional

GROWING in FAITH
Daily DevotionalCultivate love and compassion each day this week.

January 26: Our Ability to Love Makes Us Children of God

  • Scripture: 1 John 4:7 — Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
  • Reflection: Love is the essence of God. Whatever arises from holy and holistic love becomes a sacred bond. All members of humankind, all beings capable of love, are children of God. We are encompassed by Holy Love’s regard.
    Reflecting our identity as children of God, ideally our actions and choices ought to arise from love. A universal form of compassion, care for others, can motivate our relationships with all people and creatures, as well as for creation. We aren’t required to ‘like’ every person we encounter, but we strive to maintain an ethical standard of concern for each person’s wellbeing.
    Along the way, we may implement boundaries and self-care, especially as we immerse ourselves in demanding roles of care for others. We should also understand that we aren’t required to care for other people, or creation itself, as a solo act. For sustainable approaches to care for others, we act as part of a larger community, so that we support a network of connections that echoes God’s love.
    Note that the love described in this scripture is agape, which is a deep and abiding love for the worth and welfare of all people, and all of creation, as well as Godself. Our capacity to engage in agape is an echo of the magnitude of God’s overflowing and boundless love. Other forms of love have validity and value, yet they include a different, more narrow focus. Other types of affection that humans may experience include 1) Eros: Physical and/or erotic love that involves passion, lust, and/or romance. 2) Philia: Deep friendship. 3) Ludus: A playful or uncommitted love that can involve teasing, dancing, flirting, or seducing. 4) Pragma: Enduring love that emphasizes practicality and realism over passion. 5) Storge: Familial love felt between parents and their children, or close family friends. 6) Philautia: A love of the self, and 7) Mania: Obsessive love.
  • Spiritual Discipline: Reach out to someone you haven’t connected with in a while and express your care for them.
SONGS:
When we live out of this truth of love, instead of the lie and human emotion of fear, we will at last begin to live. Love is always letting go of a fear…. The world will always teach us fear. Jesus will always command us to love….
Divine love or charity has nothing to do with feelings of “liking” one another. One key biblical word for love, agape, is not based on the myth of romantic love or good feelings about one another. It is a love grounded in God that allows us to honestly desire and seek the other’s spiritual growth.
How might we choose to listen and act out of “agape,” God’s self-giving love for all, instead of our fears? Try to be conscious that in each interaction, we have a choice to love. — Richard Rohr
Jan 26: Daily Devotional
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