April 23, 2023 – Our Daily Bread Devotional, Sunday ODB Message
April 23, 2023 – Our Daily Bread Devotional, ODB Devotional Message for Sunday written by Xochitl Dixon
TOPIC: Loving Like Jesus
KEY VERSE: Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. – 1 John 3:18
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
1 John 3:11–18
BIBLE IN A YEAR: 2 Samuel 16–18, Luke 17:20–37
ODB DEVOTIONAL INSIGHT FOR TODAY BY K.T. SIM
Jesus spoke a new commandment to “love one another” (John 13:34). This command is actually “an old one” (1 John 2:7), for God had commanded every Israelite to “love [their] neighbor as [themselves]” (Leviticus 19:18). The “new” commandment raised the bar to the highest standard of love: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). The apostle John here reminded believers to model this sacrificial love of Jesus—“Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16). True love is sacrificial giving and spontaneous generosity (v. 17). John exhorts us to be loving in our speech and in our actions (v. 18). Such love is the clearest evidence that one has new life (v. 14) and “is a child of God” (4:7 nlt); anyone who “does not love does not know God, for God is love” (v. 8 nlt).
OUR DAILY BREAD DEVOTIONAL 23RD APRIL 2023 MESSAGE:
While waiting for a train at a station in Atlanta, Georgia, a young man wearing dress pants and a button-down shirt sat on a bench. As he struggled with his tie, an older woman encouraged her husband to help. When the elderly man hunched over and began teaching the young man how to knot the tie, a stranger took a photo of the trio. When this photo went viral online, many viewers left comments about the power of random acts of kindness.
For believers in Jesus, kindness to others reflects the self-sacrificing care that He showed for people like us. It’s an expression of God’s love and what He desired His disciples to live out: “We should love one another” (1 John 3:11 emphasis added). John equates hating a brother or sister to murder (v. 15). Then he turns to Christ as an example of love in action (v. 16).
It doesn’t have to be an extravagant display of sacrifice. Selfless love simply requires us to acknowledge the value of all God’s image-bearers by placing their needs above our own . . . every day. Those seemingly ordinary moments when we care enough to notice the needs of others and do what we can to help are selfless when we’re motivated by love. When we see beyond our personal space, step out of our comfort zones to serve others, and give—especially when we don’t have to give—we’re loving like Jesus.
ODB DEVOTIONAL REFLECTION AND PRAYER BELOW:
When have you experienced selfless love from someone? How can you love others selflessly this week?
Loving Father, please help me see people with a heart ready to extend compassion and selfless love wherever You send me.
Our Daily Bread Devotional 23rd April 2023 || ODB for Sunday Message . Our Daily Bread Ministries (ODB) is a Christian organization founded by Dr. Martin De Haan in 1938. It is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with over 600 employees. It produces several devotional publications, including Our Daily Bread. our daily bread devotional for today audio our daily bread booklet.
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