“God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
1 John 4:16b (NAU)
“We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” 1 John 4:16 (NLT)
This love John writes about is almost incomprehensible. It begins in God. He is the source of it. It is only through a relationship with him that we have it. It is only by maintaining this relationship that we remain in this love. And John connects this love to our loving one another (read verses 7-21). He virtually insists that our love for one another is evidence of whether we have a true relationship with God.
It is so easy to love God. After all, He loved us first and gave his son to be our Savior. The Cross of Calvary is clear evidence that he loved us first. It is easy to love someone who has sacrificed himself for us.
The challenge, however, is the “one another” among us. We enjoy those who are like us. We even like those who are likeable and lovable. We are tempted to ignore John’s teaching, however, when it forces us to consider our attitudes toward those among us who rub us the wrong way. The obnoxious ones. The contrary ones. The grubby ones. The snooty ones. The ignorant ones. Oh, we all know who they are.
Then our memory is activated. It isn’t John who commanded us to love one another. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” St. John 13:34 (KJV). He also repeated this command two more times to the twelve (St. John 15:12 & 17). I believe he meant it, don’t you? Perhaps we need to stop making excuses and truly allow God to love our brothers and sisters through us. After all, it is a sign that we are truly in God and that God is truly in us.
Dear Father, I praise you for the love you bestow upon us who believe. Thank you for the evidence of your love shown on Calvary. Forgive me for each time I have failed in loving my Christian siblings, as you have loved me. Deliver me from partiality and grant to me the quality of love that expresses our relationship. O Lord, empower me to constantly live this love. I pray this in Jesus’ name. AMEN
Let us praise God for his incomprehensible love and live in love with one another,
Pastor Smith