1 John 4:7-21
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.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
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.
And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 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. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.
If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.
“It just might change your life… that’s the power of love.”
The timeless words of Huey Lewis there. Love has great power. John has hammered this point home throughout this whole letter. We are to love one another. Why? Because God has first loved us.
I remember the words of this passage particularly clearly because they are quoted almost every week in Anglican churches as part of the liturgy. That was the tradition I was raised in, and I’m grateful for that because those years of reciting these words have embedded them in my heart.
“God is love, and all who live in love live in God and God lives in them.”
Wow. Powerful words!
“If we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.”
Imagine that. God’s love is brought to full expression in us as a result of the way that we love one another. So loving one another isn’t just a nice thing we talk about, or a pleasant option for those who are really committed. Loving our Christian brothers and sisters is the way that we can fully know God’s love for us!
Reading this passage, and having journeyed through this letter together, it’s clear that love for our brothers and sisters is vital for discipleship. It’s central to what it is to be a follower of Jesus. It’s not just for the brothers and sisters we like, it’s for all of them. If we fail to love our brothers and sisters then we’ll never know the full extent of God’s love for us.
So my question for you today is this: how seriously do you take the call to love your brothers and sisters?
