TSP DAILY DEVOTIONAL
LOVE IN TRUTH
8th July 2020
Dr. Phil Ransom-Bello
KEY SCRIPTURE/MEMORY VERSE: 1 John 3:18(NKJV)
My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
In learning about the more excellent way to walk in love, we see that the believer is to love not just in words but in deed and truth. That your actions, your deeds actually match your words of love.
And to love in truth is also significant because it’s possible for a person to act love but not really love.
You can do what is considered the “acts of love” but not really love.
The picture I Corinthians 13:3 shows us is that it is even possible to give your body to be burned but love is not in you. So to love in truth means that it is beyond deeds. It goes into the heart.
Like that verse says, you are not the generous giver who is sympathetic to the poor yet has not love.
Think about it, when the poor receive your gift, wouldn’t they say you are loving? But the Bible says you may be loving in deeds but not in truth.
And that verse doesn’t stop there, it says that if a person gives his body to be burned but doesn’t have love, it doesn’t profit you.
Look friends, when you love genuinely, it’s YOU it profits not even the person you are loving. So go beyond the words and deeds and the accolades they come with and love in truth.
Because loving in truth profits.
Here’s how the Message version of Philippians 1:9-10 describes what our love ought to be like;
So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush.
It is my desire and prayer that we continue to grow in our understanding of the love fruit that the gospel bears in us because when we do, we will be yielded to allowing the love of God come to full expression in us.
REFLECTION
Does my expression of love go beyond the words and the deeds to loving in truth?
DECLARATION
-I believe in the good news of the gospel, that the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus has announced the provision of forgiveness of my sins.
-I don’t just know the gospel, I live the gospel. I am transformed by the gospel. The gospel is working through me.
-The hearing of the gospel produces the fruits of Genuine Faith, Love for all the Saints and Hope of a Guaranteed Future in me.
-The fruits of the gospel are not a product of my ability but are generated supernaturally.
-In view of Christ’s sacrifice for me, I am able to give my life for others.
-I am not consumed with only what concerns me. I move from being self-centeredness to selflessness.
I go beyond myself.
-I love sincerely and well. The love I express is not mere talk but is demonstrated in practical deeds.
-My love expression is not just about the acts of love but I love from the heart in truth.
-I enjoy the profit of loving genuinely.
Amen!
HEARING BY THE WORD
(Recommended Listening)
Listen to Fruits of the Gospel 5>> Dr. Phil by The StandPoint Church on #SoundCloud
