Daily Devotion for Friday 4th July 2025

Reflection

I can’t help but be drawn to the words ‘just as I have loved you’. Six little words with a big meaning for everyday of our life. As we are reminded of Jesus’s sacrificial life, incarnation and death, we realise that everything comes down to the simple fact that God loves us so much that he sent his Son to die for us. Our devotion to God isn’t all about us serving him, it is also about us letting ourselves be served and loved. 

The disciples knew the Commandments and that they were to love others but when Jesus speaks, he changes everything. ‘Loving others as we are loved’ is actually quite a challenge. We are practiced at serving and giving, even to those who we find difficult to love. But how familiar are we at letting God love us? Maybe it is so unfamiliar, you find it uncomfortable to think about. Do we feel worthy? Do we feel we’ve earned God’s favour this week? Have we done enough of God’s will to deserve his love? We question, doubt and convince ourselves that we are not worthy. 

In 1 John 4:10 it tells us how love was born and what love is: God loved us long before we loved him. It was his love for us and not our love for him that brought Jesus into the world, and then to the cross, so that we might live through him. That is love. 

So before we do anything else with our day, let’s open our hearts to receive and set our minds to acknowledge God’s love for us. May we all be filled and renewed in God’s perfect love today.

Prayer

Lord, thank you, that you never stop loving.
Your love is large and incredibly patient.
Your love transforms us
You are love; gentle and consistently kind
Your love is a safe place for shelter and finds no delight in wrong.
Your love sees the best in all of us.
Your love never fails.
Lord, thank you. 
Help me to love, just as I am loved.  Amen