If you have been reading these devotions, you will notice how many times I have been led to write about love.  We have seen so much hate in our communities, the nation, and the world. As God’s people, we cannot retaliate against hate toward us. Even though, we will always be required to show love, it may be hard to do. You cannot do it on your own. We say that love is stronger than hate, but we seldom see true love. What we have seen is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. If you dislike or hate me, I dislike or hate you. Nevertheless, God calls us to love, EVEN our enemies. We are to love even those who do not love us back. That is true love. The scripture reference is in I John 4:12.

 “No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.”

n this moving chapter, we clearly see the call to love. Verse 11 in the KJV uses the word beloved.  This has to do with mutual love. The motive is not just gratitude, but also the response of those who are children of the Most High God. It is a call to ethical love toward one another. If we say we love God whom we have not seen, and do not love each other, then we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. His love is made perfect in us. Love is the strongest response to God. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God loves us. He has proven it many times. Just look to Calvary and the shedding of His blood. What is our response to that love? In the words of the songwriter, “Oh love that will not let me go, I give myself to thee.”