Loving One Another
~ This post is not listed in chronological order ~
1 John 4:7-21
- My dear beloved friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God’s children, and we know him.
- God is love, and anyone who does not love others does not know God.
- God has shown us his love by sending his only Son into the world so that we could have life through him.
- In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
- My dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other.
- No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God resides in us, and his love is made complete in us.
- And his Spirit which he has given us is the witness that we are in him and he is in us.
- And we have seen for ourselves and testify openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world.
- God lives in those who declare that Jesus is the Son of God, and they live in God.
- And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him. [Note]
- God’s love has reached its goal in us. So we look ahead with confidence to the day of judgment. We are without fear, because in this world we are like Jesus.
- No fear exists where there is love, because perfect love overcomes and casts out fear. The thought of being punished is what creates fear, and that fear demonstrates we are not fully residing in His perfect love.
- We love him, because he first loved us.
- If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
- God gave us this command: If we love God, we must also love each other as brothers and sisters.
Notes
- v16: I believe this is one of the most important verses in God’s Word.
- “God is Love!”For myself, those three words did not sink into my thick skull until recently. The moment, I turned my faith towards those three little words, “God is Love” and begin to realize what God had been trying to tell me all my life, my life changed. Whenever we move away from the “Realm of Love” we move away from God. Whenever we move towards the “Realm of Love” we move towards God, for God is love.
- Of all God’s characteristics, I believe “Love” is the most important and best describes him. Though it is a mistake to call “Love” a characteristic of God, for God is Love. Love is who He is, not one of his characteristics. Love is his makeup, his identity. Love is more of “who” and “what” he is than a characteristic. [←Back]
One Response to Loving One Another
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Dear Lord,
Since You ARE LOVE, I have to wonder if the success and failures of my life are not a direct reflection upon how lovingly I live my life? Teach me to live in the “Realm of Love.”