Today's encouragement comes from 1 John 4:16a, where we read these few words:
"And we have known and believed the love that God has for us . . . "It is a monumental blessing for us Christians in the true church to know and believe that God loves us. This is especially remarkable, since in our natural state of sin we hated God. But now, as we are in Jesus, we are loved by God; and we love Him (cf. v. 10a). Now, because we recognize that we are loved by God, and we actually believe the incredible fact of this truth—we cannot do enough for Christ. God's love now "compels" us, (2 Cor. 5:14), to a lively and loving obedience.
. . . If we do not know and believe that God loves us, then we will inevitably show ourselves to be spiritually unfaithful—since we will seek our affection from idolatrous sources. This is why it is imperative that Christians get a solid interest in Jesus’ gospel—so that we know that we are the genuine objects of God's love.
[Puritan quote of the day: "Such as think totally to ruin the church, must do it in a time when it is neither day nor night, for the Lord keeps the church by His providence night and day.” —Thomas Watson, in, "A Body of Divinity"]
