Daily D – 1 John 4:9-11

by David Bowman | Dec 20, 2023 | Daily D | 0 comments

1 John 4:9-11 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. (NLT)

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Nicolette Larson sang a song called Lotta Love that debuted in October, 1978. Neil Young wrote the song and also recorded it. Both albums were released on the same day through an accident of the trade. Young’s version of the song was never issued as a single. Larson’s version was a hit in the USA and abroad.

The two versions of the song are quite different, even though the lyrics are the same. Young’s is wistful and protective. Larson’s is open and hopeful. Read the lyrics as simple poetry in different moods and see how each artist interpreted the song as he or she did.

It’s gonna take a lotta love
To change the way things are
It’s gonna take a lotta love
Or we won’t get too far

So if you look in my direction
And we don’t see eye to eye
My heart needs protection
And so do I

Between Silly Love Songs (Thank you Paul McCartney) and serious love songs and everything between these two points on the line, there have been a million or more love songs written, recorded, and performed. Everyone is hungry for something they have never fully experienced. We all know the want of real love. We can all know its overflow.

Christmas is an annual reminder that God loves us perfectly, provides his love inexhaustibly, and wants to express his pure love through us. His love overcomes barriers. His love redeems, restores, and renews. His love embraces every hurting heart. His love heals every broken heart. His love fills every welcoming heart.

Neil and Nicolette are right. It takes a lotta love to change the way things are. Our Father in Heaven has all we need and more now and forever. The original Christmas gift is still available to anyone and everyone. It cannot be earned. It can only be received. That’s the meaning of the Gift.

Receiving God’s Gift empowers us to join him in giving the best kind of love to those in our rings of relationships. Passing along God’s Gift to others in no way diminishes what we have received. Instead, it increases our capacity to receive and to give.

There is a whole lotta love available from God our Father through Jesus His Son and experienced through the presence of His Holy Spirit.

Need a lotta love? Receive the gift of Jesus.

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I will receive and extend God’s gift of perfect love.

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Our Father, thank you for the Gift of Jesus. Your perfect love is more than enough for all we need now or ever. Increase our capacity to receive all of your goodness so that we may likewise pass it along to those pondering wistful lyrics and sad songs. Amen.

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Daily D – Isaiah 65:1-2

Isaiah 65:1, 2
The Lord says, “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help.
I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’
to a nation that did not call on my name.
All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people.
But they follow their own evil paths
and their own crooked schemes.”

Daily D – Psalm 131

Psalm 131
Lord, my heart is not proud;
my eyes are not haughty.
I don’t concern myself with matters too great
or too awesome for me to grasp.
Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself,
like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk.
Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, put your hope in the Lord—
now and always.

Daily D – Isaiah 55:8-13

Isaiah 55:8-13
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

“The rain and snow come down from the heavens
and stay on the ground to water the earth.
They cause the grain to grow,
producing seed for the farmer
and bread for the hungry.
It is the same with my word.
I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to,
and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
You will live in joy and peace.
The mountains and hills will burst into song,
and the trees of the field will clap their hands!
Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow.
Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up.
These events will bring great honor to the LORD’s name;
they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”

Daily D – Isaiah 50:4-5

Isaiah 50:4, 5 “The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom,
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Morning by morning he wakens me
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The Sovereign Lord has spoken to me,
and I have listened.
I have not rebelled or turned away.”

Daily D – Isaiah 48:17-18

Isaiah 48:17, 18 This is what the Lord says—
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the LORD your God,
who teaches you what is good for you
and leads you along the paths you should follow.
Oh, that you had listened to my commands!
Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river
and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.”