The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is a God of love, the same who sent his Son to die for us out of his infinite love for his creation. The one who loves, therefore, is the one who has been born of God and truly knows God. Those who do not love do not know God, for he is love. Herein is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and gave us his Son to die for us, and his Spirit as a pledge of his salvation.

We are part of a new family where we love one another as Christ has loved us. As God’s beloved children by faith in Jesus Christ, we are called to be imitators of God, to be like our Lord, and to care for others in love. We are, as it were, his members here in this world, as if he were living through us, right here on earth. Through our demonstration of love and good works we show the very character of Christ and the newness of life in his Kingdom.

The love that we have for the Lord, and for others, is only possible because God first loved us by sending his Son into the world. God’s love in Christ is the source and power of our love for God, and for others.

Enable me, O God of love, to acknowledge and receive your love for me in Christ. Only then can I love you rightly, and others, faithfully. In Jesus’s name, amen.

While the priesthood of believers affirms the dignity and right of every Christian to access God, it carries with it the chief notion of responsibility. Christians have access to God and his Word in order that they might minister the latter in its many forms to one another. Luther’s linking of the priesthood of believers with the Word of God brings out the New Testament’s emphasis on the community and, in particular, the “one another” aspects of the Christian’s vocation.

~ Uche Anizor and Hank Voss, Representing Christ. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2016. p. 82.

Let God Arise! Seasonal Focus
Live a Baptized Life, Romans 6.1-5

Book Reading
Anizor and Voss, Representing Christ