Good morning,
This week we will look at who is love, what He has done for us, our response, and what 1 John 4:7-21 tells us about love.
1 John 4:7-21
God is love (4:7-21)
God is the source of all love (4:7-8)
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
God is the source of love because God is love. Knowing how much God loves us, we should love one another. What God gives to us, He expects us to give to others. Are we willing to share God’s love with others?
God models what genuine love is (4:9-10)
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Love is an action word. God sent Jesus on our behalf. We owed a debt we could not pay. Jesus paid a debt He did not owe. He came for us. He loved us. We did not love Him. We are a blessed people knowing that we have a God who loves us so much.
God commands us to love one another (4:11-12)
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
Why is it so important that we love one another? God commands it. Also, this is how the unsaved see Jesus. Every day, where ever, whenever, and to whom ever, we are God’s representative. Do we display God’s love to others? It is essential that the ungodly world sees something different in the lives of Christians. Love stands out!
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com