July 1 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

1 Peter 1:13-25:

¹³Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
¹⁴As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
¹⁵But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
¹⁶Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
¹⁷And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
¹⁸Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
¹⁹But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
²⁰Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
²¹Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
²²Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
²³Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
²⁴For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
²⁵But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Devotional

"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." "Above all things have fervent charity (love) among yourselves: for love shall cover the multitude of sins." How much love have we? Are we willing to forgive, when our brother, or sister, sins against us? Is our love great enough to cover a multitude of sins? It is easy enough to love, when others love us; but when they wrong us and hate us, what then? Is our love toward them still sincere, unfeigned and fervent? Or do thoughts of revenge enter our hearts? Are we not inclined to requite evil with evil?

But how did God love us? "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." "When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitia­tion for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." We ought; but do we? Do we love one another with a pure heart fervently? If we do not love the broth­er, we do not love God. We may say we do; but then we are liars. And if we do not love God, we are not of him; for God is love. "He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."

Prayer

Our Father, when we realize how prone we are by nature to hate Thee and our neighbor, we have need of pray­ing: God be merciful to us sinners. Help us to realize more and more the greatness of the love with which Thou hast first loved us, so that we may be enabled to love Thee in return. May our souls be purified in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren. May we love one another with a pure heart fervently. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: 1 John 4:7; 1 Pet. 4:8; 1 John 3:16; Rom. 5:8, 10; 1 John 4:10, 11; 1 Pet. 2:22; 1 John 4:20; 1 John 4:8; 4:16.

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