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 – Leviticus 8:23-26

Leviticus 8:23-26 The LORD said to Moses, “This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the tent of meeting, but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer. They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the tent of meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This, then, is how you are to assign the responsibilities of the Levites.”

Daily D – Psalm 40:1-3

Psalm 40:1-3

“I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the LORD
and put their trust in him.”

Daily D – Leviticus 26:3-13

Leviticus 26:3-13 “‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.

“ ‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

“ ‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.”

Daily D – Leviticus 25:17

Leviticus 25:17 “Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.”

Daily D – Psalm 37:5-6

Psalm 37:5, 6 “Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.”