God's Word and His Love I Peter 1:23

"22Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever."




Perhaps one of the most telling characteristics of the Christian life is the presence of love in our hearts for "the brethren." We are commanded to love everyone but there is a special love that we ought to have for those who are part of God's heavenly, forever family. Jesus talks about the importance of loving one another; Paul taught that the greatest of the gifts of the spirit was love and here Peter says that we are to love one another "fervently with a pure heart."

Love is the outward expression of the inward change that has taken place in our hearts since we have "have purified our souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love for the brethren." Because we have purified our souls in obeying the truth of the scriptures, we have a promise here that is important for us to remember.

Peter goes on to write, "having been born again through the Word of God, which lives and abides forever. " This Word lives and abides in us and that is what gives us life both now and forever! Our life comes in and from the eternal Word of God. It is in our faith in the truth of the Gospel that we find life. Faith moves us to act. Obedience to the Word of God is our right response to our faith in the Word of God. As we are obedient to what our faith in the Word of God tells us to do, our obedience brings us the rewards the Word of God has in store for us.

These rewards are the outward expression of God's love for us and the desire of His heart for our lives. His desire is that we have life that is both abundant and everlasting! God's promise to us is that His Word will both live forever and it will abide forever. God's Word will live forever and because He lives, His Word will abide in us forever as well and we too shall live. God's Word and His love for us are inseparable!

Real life really is simple. Love God and love one another and give as much of ourselves away as we possibly can and we will receive more than we could ever begin to imagine.

Ask God what you can do to show His love to someone today!