Today’s Reading: 1 John 4:7-21
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love and all who live in love live in God and God lives in them. – 1 John 4:16
When the Spirit lives in us and when we remain in fellowship with Jesus Christ, our life produces love naturally. And when the love we show towards one another comes out of our growing relationship with Christ, it has a beautiful authenticity to it that we cannot create on our own. Compassion and mercy become a natural outflow of our relationship with Christ.
I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning. – 2 John 5-6
THE LOVE CIRCLE
I love the circle that John creates in these verses. If we truly love God, we will obey whatever He commands. And what does He command? He commands us to love one another. So, if we truly love God, we will love one another. In fact, we show our love for God by loving others – demonstrated in word and action. And this verse in John’s second letter is consistent with what he wrote in his first letter:
But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. – 1 John 2:5
When we begin living in relationship with Christ, His Spirit produces love in us. In response to His love for me, I live out my relationship by loving others with an authentic love I cannot produce on my own. And when I genuinely love others, His love living inside of me is brought to full expression and my relationship with Him grows. With this growth comes more love…graciously extended to others…fully expressed in me. With the momentum of that never-ending circle, God can show Himself to the whole world through His children.
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. – 1 John 4:7-8
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. – 1 John 4:11-12
What a great reminder of what true obedience to God looks like – loving others in word and deed. I can say I love everyone and that my love for God is expressed in the way I love others, but then I need to consider when I complain and speak negatively about someone else. Does this express my love for God? Do I love God well when I’m avoiding someone or losing patience with someone.
Lord, forgive me for my lack of love for others. Lord, perfect YOUR love in me. I want to live a life of obedience and love. Please fill me with Your Spirit today and love through me! May your truth be evident in our actions today as we love each other just as You intended us to. Fill us with the kind of REAL LOVE John spoke of – the kind of authentic love that would give up our lives just as Christ gave up His life for us. Amen.