God Is Love

I John 4:7-11

Someone once said, "Loving people would be easy, if it wasn't for people". Isn't that the truth! We all know people that are hard to love. Perhaps they are overly opinionated. Perhaps they seem set on undermining everything we do. Maybe they have caused us real pain or injury. It could be someone who never seems to learn, and we constantly have to clean up their messes. It often feels like life would be so much easier if they were not in our lives.

---

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

I John 4:7-11

---

Talk is cheap. No one wants to hear us say that we are Christians. What really matters is when we show that we are Christians. This is done by love. I'm not saying that we should not tell people about Jesus. That in itself is an act of love. To warn someone of the dangers of Hell, and to tell them of the escape that is offered in Jesus Christ is a message of love. What I am saying is that we need to do far more than just claim the title of Christian.

John says that if we do not love then we do not know God because God is love. This does not mean that the moment we are less than loving we have somehow severed our relationship with God. We grow in grace and love. However, if we know God, and we are acting less than loving, He will let us know that there needs to be a change in our lives. Then, we have to change what we have been doing. I have been learning such a lesson in recent days. I love God, and I want to glorify Him. This means that I have to change my behaviors to be pleasing to Him.

If you have read the last couple of devotions, then you know that there has been a lot said about abiding in Jesus. When we abide in Him, then we live through Him. Do not misunderstand that point. Jesus does not live through us, we live through Him. He died on the cross that we might have life. He rose from the dead to give us victory over death, hell, and the grave. Paul told the Greeks on Mars Hill, "...for in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). He told the Ephesians, "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins..." (Ephesians 2:1).

Finally, there is that "P" word that everyone hates to try and read, "propitiation" (pro-pish-E-A-shun). That word means to appease, especially a deity. While we love to talk about the fact that God is love, we equally love to neglect that God will pour out His wrath on the wicked. The wicked are anyone who rejects Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This was all of us before we were saved. It was Jesus dying on the cross that appeased the wrath of God on us. He took upon Himself the wrath that was meant for us. In return He gave us His righteousness so that we could be called sons and daughters of God.

The final verse speaks for itself: "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another".

Father, thank You for loving us. We are so unworthy. Your love gave us Your Son who took the wrath reserved for us upon Himself. Because You love us with such love, we should love one another. Grow Your love in us.