Wednesday 18 January 2023
- Bible Book:
- 1 John
So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. (v. 16)
1 John 4:1-16a
Wednesday 18 January 2023
Background
Yesterday we reflected on how we can look upon Jesus and his example as a way of understanding what love is. Today's verses which comes at the very end of this section tell us that God is love, and it is as we seek to live out a life of love that we also find God living in us. This final verse comes at the end of this section which starts out with a warning about those who come to deceive us. It may seem like the two halves do not connect, but there is a reason one follows the other.
John is writing to a group of Christians who are obviously wrestling with who to believe and how to know when someone or something is of God and when it is not. It is a struggle we still have today. Discerning the right decision to make and the right choice is difficult at times. What can be even harder is knowing the intention behind someone's words. People can say the right thing and sound convincing. They can even claim they are speaking God’s words. But sometimes this can be to acquire personal power or riches rather than to carry out what God desires.
For John, it comes down to the call to love one another. Because true love, the love we see in Jesus and is heaped upon us by God, is a love that is pure and righteous and seeks the best for all people. When we seek to love one another in this way deception and trickery have no place. If we each are truly seeking to love one another because love is from God then our churches and communities will look different to what else we see in our world. This is what can set us apart.
For John, it comes down to the call to love one another. Because true love, the love we see in Jesus and is heaped upon us by God, is a love that is pure and righteous and seeks the best for all people. When we seek to love one another in this way deception and trickery have no place. If we each are truly seeking to love one another because love is from God then our churches and communities will look different to what else we see in our world. This is what can set us apart.
To Ponder:
- What does the phrase 'God is love' mean to you?
- How might you express God’s love to to others this week?