Thought of the Day – Friday

Each morning this week, Graham Nicholls, our Director, is offering the Thought of the Day on Premier Christian Radio and Premier Praise. You can hear the Thought of the Day around 7.20am on Premier Christian Radio and 7.40am on Premier Praise.

Here is the text of what Graham shared this morning:

A child of God loves other children

In his first letter, John talks about love 27 times – that’s pretty much every other sentence.

One of the big ideas in the letter is that if you are a child of God, adopted into the family of God, you want to live to love other Christians as your brothers and sisters.

And John wants them to show it works out in really practical ways. So in chapter 3 verse 17 he says “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

Love means you might give a gift to someone who needs it, show hospitality, visit the lonely, offer to babysit – to give up things we thought God gave for us to keep when actually he gave them to use.

The church is a family business. “Brothers, sisters, children…“ all over this letter… a big inter-generational group. What spoils a family party? Petty arguments, subtle criticisms, competition and complaints, truth without love. It’s sometimes like that in churches. Love means dealing with relationships that need mending – to speak truth and to forgive and forget; to learn how to love difficult people.

John says if you are a child of God that’s who you are – it’s where you want to be, what you want to do and who you want to love.

My name is Graham Nicholls and I’m the Director of Affinity, a partnership of gospel churches. May God bless you, have a great day!

Listen again to Graham’s slot using the Soundcloud player below: