May 3, 2025
Daily Devotion:
“The Quality of Love: A Fruitful Christian Character"
2 Peter 1:7-9
New Living Translation
7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. 8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in yourknowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
In 2 Peter Chapter 1, the apostle Peter encouraged the brethren to grow spiritually. God has provided everything we need to become like Him, but the responsibility is on us to yield ourselves to the process. Our calling as disciples includes selflessness and genuine love for one another. Loving each other is not optional but is a command as stated in John 13: 34-35 (NLT) “Love each other. Just as I haveloved you... Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” Our love for each other is one of our identifying marks as a Christian, so a constant display of selfishness and unresolved feuds will confuse on lookers and at the same time our spiritual growth. One of the goalsof spiritual growth is to impact those who are yet to experience God's love through the way we love. It is no wonder God has a low opinion of the person who claims to love God who he cannot see, but hate his brother or sister who he can see. That person is called a liar. (1 John 4:20). Sometimes it is painful or does not make sense. Sometimes it feels unfair. Our innate desire for self-preservation coupled with our cultural belief that “one bad turn deserves another" dictates that we should be kind to those who are kind to us and retaliate against those who hurt us. One cannot deny that an unkind word or deed, especially undeserved, can cause pain, but this cannot be remedied with carnal reasoning. In Ephesians 4:32 (NLT) the apostle Paul admonishes, “Instead, be kind to each other, tender hearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”
We may be at different points in our journey of spiritual growth but let us not compare ourselves with each other. Instead, let us use the mirror of God's Word to show us our weak points as we strive to love each other as He loves us.
