June 23 - 1 John 4:7-16a. Testify.

June 23 - 1 John 4:7-16a. Testify.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 


This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. 

As Christians, we know what love is, because we know that God loves us.

As babies, we learn what love is because our parents love us.  We learn to express our love based on what we experience in our homes.  We didn’t have to ask for love, it was simply offered. We didn’t have to work for love, it came to us without hesitation.

(Again, I know there are those who might read this who have never experienced that type of love. I’m so sorry … I write these things knowing there are many homes in this world where love will never and has never existed.  I pray you find someone who will love you unconditionally.)

God doesn’t expect us to work hard so that He will love us.  His love for everyone is unconditional.

John goes on to say in this passage, that though no one has seen God, if we love each other, God’s love is made complete.

Think about that for a minute.  How is it that God’s love is felt by another person?  How do they know that God loves them?

It is by our love for them. If you know that God loves you, there is an implied responsibility that you will love others.  When that begins to happen … God’s love is complete!

When we refuse to love others, we show the world that though our words may say we know God, the truth is … we don’t.

Who are these others that we refuse to love? They may not be anyone you know personally … and then again, they might be.  But, for a great many of us, they are those whom we ignore and write off because they don’t live like by our accepted standards.  They are those whom we talk about, saying terrible things.  We call them names: whore, fag, loser, bully, jackass, Democrat, Republican, Jew, idiot, spic, towel-head, welfare recipient. We gossip about them with our friends. We tell our children to steer clear of them. We avoid looking at them.

Who is that you refuse to love? Who is it that needs you to love them? Who is it that God wants you to love? Do you realize that you show the world every day who you are in God?  Do you realize that you are God’s hands, feet and mouth to the world?