Christian Devotional - Love, part 3

Can we imitate love?



For the month of February we’re looking at love through the
eyes of the disciple John in his letter 2 John. This short book tells us a lot
about love and this week, we’re looking at a darker side of love. Imitation
love.



2 John 7-9 “I say this because many deceivers, who do not
acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world.
Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not
lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who
runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God;
whoever continues in the teaching of has both the Father and the Son.”



In the past weeks, we’ve looked at how to love people and we’ve
looked at what exactly is love. This week we’re getting a look at the cold fact
that some people try to imitate love.



John plainly says that there are deceivers here. These deceivers
do not acknowledge God. They do not believe in God and they do not continue the
teaching of God. They are deceitful in their love and what they share is not
the true love of God.



When we looked last week at what love is, we saw that love
is walking in obedience to His commands. Love is seeing that Jesus is the truth
and that by walking in Him we can love not only Him, but others as well.
Unfortunately the opposite is true as well. If we do not obey Jesus, if we do
not continue in His teachings, if we do now follow Jesus, then we cannot love
and any attempt we make at it is an attempt at deception to ourselves, others,
and God.



So, can we imitate love? People try to all the time. People
try to change the definition of love so that what they have to offer sounds
better or more promising. However, imitation love does not even begin to compare
to the true love found in Christ Jesus. We must be on the lookout and not be
deceived by those who only have the pitiful imitation of love to offer. They do
not know love.



Are we being deceived by others? By ourselves? Are we
displaying the true love of God or are we pedaling a false, flimsy, fake love
that is the product of a deceiver? We must, like scripture says, “continue in
the teaching” so that we have both the Father and the Son and as a result, the
love they share as well.



Kristi Burchfiel, Christian devotional author and speaker

Living in the World – Living out the Word

Check out my website and daily devotions either on my blog or on my Facebook pagewww.BooksByAmanda.com