JANUARY 15, 1 Peter 1:22-25

True holiness brings about agape love, the type of love that is pure and wonderful, the type of love mentioned in the verses today. Why would true holiness bring about love? It is only when we truly yearn to be holy will we know how sinful we are and rely wholly on God to live a sinless life.

And when we do so, we will experience His love, understand how wrong it is to be selfish and uncaring, and then eventually be able to possess and demonstrate that same type of love.

Agape love is such a wonderful and complex thing that no one can fully explain it! It is the kind of love God has for us, one that is sacrificial, when He loves us even though we remain sinful and disobedient. However, we want to concentrate on just one aspect of love – that real love is kind. Are you a kind child? Do you care for your parents, your sister or brother, your friends? Kindness extends even to strangers, but in your context, confine it to people you know until you grow older. Ask yourself, “When was the last time someone told me I was kind?” If no one has done so, then either no one has seen your kindness or you have not been kind!

Here is an example of a son’s love and kindness to his mother.

Write what the good son could have said to his mother.

Thought: May I just focus on one aspect of love – kindness.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, give me a kind heart that thinks of and cares for others. I know that because of my fleshly nature, that is neither easy nor natural. But Heavenly Father, with Your help, I will be able to do it. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.