Perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment (1 John 4:18).
God of mercy, God of grace, be gracious to us and bless us and make [Your] face shine on us—so that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations (Psalm 67:1-2).
Father, in the gift of Your Son You have revealed Your salvation to us, the salvation "which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel” (Luke 2:31-32).
Thank You, God, that You so loved the world that [You] gave [Your] one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Thank You for Your amazing grace.
Father, Your gospel—Your good news—tells us that You did not send [Your] Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him (John 3:17). And to demonstrate this, You held up a woman condemned by wielders of the Law, and dared them prove their own righteousness by "casting the first stone" (John 8:7).
And when the rocks fell from their hands and they slinked away, our Lord, the only one with the right, and the power to condemn said to her, "Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11).
O Lord, help us not to miss the critical point that You do not want us to continue in our sin. You offer us complete forgiveness. The psalmist prayed, “If You, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve You” (Psalm 130:3).
Thank You for this "age of grace" when the doors of Your mercy are wide open to us—when You are willing to tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).
We pray, O Father, for the truth of Your message to penetrate hearts and minds—You have given us the gift of Your perfect love in Your Son, and by accepting His sacrifice and Your forgiveness, we have no fear of punishment.
We are given the assurance that "Whoever believes in him is not condemned." But we are also given the sobering contrast, Whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:18).
Oh Lord, let us not in unbelief reject Your gift of love, because Scripture tells us that
["God] has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).
This day as we celebrate the gift of earthly love, help us to understand, accept, and embrace Your perfect love who came down to us from heaven (John 6:38).
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