Devotions from Kenneth  Boa’s book, Conformed to His image

The more we love God the more we will express His love to others in acts of kindness and goodness. “There is no act that begins with the love of God that does not end with the love of neighbor.”   As we grow in our understanding of His love, we are free from using people to meet our needs.  Our modern world view is so individualistic, autonomous, and self-serving but the biblical view is interdependent, communal, relational, and self-transcending.  Jesus derived his identity from his relationship with His Father and not from the opinions of his family and peers. He knew who He was and this relationship with His father gave him the power and security to love and serve others.  When we find our identity in Him we also will become secure enough to love and serve others without seeking our own interests first. We don’t need to be controlled by the opinions and responses of others. When we know who and whose we are we don’t need to impress others and manipulate people. The more we are concerned with what God thinks of us the less we will be worried about what others will think. How wonderful to not be enslaved to people’s opinions of us and free to love them as Christ loves us- with no strings attached.