THE PROOF OF YOUR LOVE

 

EVENING DEVOTION by James Smith

JUNE 1

 

2 Corinthians 8:24

Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the churches,

the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf.

 
We profess to love God.
 
We cannot be Christians without love.
 
Christians love professes to prefer Christ and his cause to all besides.
 
To submit to his authority and acquiesce in his will.
 
To obey all commands without partiality or insincerity.
 
To delight in his saints as the excellent of the earth.
 
To sympathise with sufferers, especially with those who suffer in his cause and for his sake.
 
To be ready to every good work.
 
Such is our profession if we are sincere and diligent Christians.
 
The law of God requires this at our hands.
 
Jehovah as a Sovereign promises to produce it.
 
By the Holy Spirit it is brought forth within us.
 
He convinces us that by nature we have it not.
 
He leads us to admire it, desire it, and seek for it.
 
By unfolding the gospel and shedding abroad the love of God in our hearts, he produces it.
 
By daily and filial fellowship with God it is sustained. Beloved, do we profess to love God and his people?
 
Then let us prove the sincerity of our love, by uniting with the, by assisting them in every good work and work, and by preferring them to all beside.
 
Let us shew them all possible kindness for Jesu’s sake.
 

Mercy through Jesus we have found

Free mercy from above;

May mercy move us to fulfill

The perfect law of love.

 
James Smith