You Might Not Love God

I John 4:20-21

One of the most interesting love stories in the Bible is that of Jacob and Rachel. In Genesis 29, Jacob goes to stay with his uncle Laban. It is a dual mission. First, he is trying to avoid being killed by his brother Esau. Second, he is trying to find a wife. When he gets close to where Laban lives, he stops at a well and asks about Laban. A shepherd tells him that Laban is well, and that his daughter, Rachel, is coming up to the well now to water her flock of sheep. Jacob goes to Laban's house and stays with him for a month. Laban offers him a permanent job and salary. Jacob offers to work for 7 years and for his pay to be Rachel's hand in marriage. Verse 20 says, "So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her".

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If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

I John 4:20-21

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In this life there are people we find it easy to love and others that are not so easy to love. Typically, the ones who are easy to love are so because they do what we want. The ones who are not easy to love are difficult because they do what we don't want them to do. It all boils down to our being pleased by their actions. John tells us we need to have a different standard for why we love who we do.

John ends this chapter by saying that if we claim to love God, but hate our brother, we don't actually love God. Sheesh! Let's be honest, we all struggle with this. When I wrote about people being difficult to love, I would almost bet someone came to your mind. It might have been me! There are days when we are all hard to love. A person's likeability is not a prerequisite to our loving them.

John asked the question, "How can we say we love God who we have not seen, when we do not love our brother who we have seen?" We have to make a conscious decision to love God (I realize there is a long rabbit trail we can run theologically here, but I am choosing to keep this basic). We choose to love someone we have never seen. So, if we can choose to love someone we have not seen, how do we not love someone we have seen? John, led by the Holy Spirit, says that this cannot happen. If we are going to love God, then we must love our brother also. Remember that Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15).

As Christians, we are supposed to love those who are unlovable because God loved us when we were unlovable. Paul wrote to the Romans, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Romans 5:8-10). Notice what he said, "...while we were still sinners" and "For if when we were enemies...". God did not wait for us to change and then decide to love us. He loved us and then we changed. We must have the same attitude to all those around us.

Father, this is hard for us. When we find someone unlovable, we want to stay away from them. The last thing we want to do is be vulnerable to more hurt and mistreatment. Teach us to love like You do. Remind us that You loved us so that we could be saved, and we must love others for the Gospel's sake.