Daily Christian Devotional

5 January, 2026

1 John 3.11-21, Psalm 100, John 1.43-end

John is direct and demanding: the message we have heard from the beginning is this, that we should love one another. Love is not sentiment or approval, but action shaped by truth. We are warned by Cain’s example that resentment and violence grow where love is refused. By contrast, Christ shows us what love truly is: laying down his life for others. To belong to God is to let that love take shape in what we do, especially towards those in need.

Psalm 100 calls us to joyful worship. We come before God with gladness not because life is simple, but because we belong to the Lord who made us and whose steadfast love endures for ever. Worship forms us into grateful people, able to recognise God’s goodness and share it.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus calls Philip, who immediately invites Nathanael: “Come and see.” Encounter with Christ leads naturally to invitation. Jesus knows Nathanael fully and loves him still. Being known by Christ frees us to live honestly and generously.

As believers, we are shaped by this rhythm: gathered in worship, formed by love, and sent in witness. When our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts. May we live in the truth of God’s love, confident, compassionate, and ready to say to others, “Come and see.”

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Prayer

God of love,
you know us fully and call us by name.
Free our hearts from fear and resentment,
and teach us to love not in word only, but in truth and action.
Strengthen us in worship and send us out in joy,
that we may bear witness to your Son,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.