We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 1 John 4:16
My brother caught his kids, my niece and nephew, Owen and Collins in a rare moment of playing sweetly together. If you are a parent, aunt or uncle, or have kids in your life, you know how rare these moments are. As they were playing, Collins said, “Owen, I like playing with you, and I love you.” Owen replied, “Thanks!” Trying not to laugh, I’m sure, my brother said, “Owen, don’t you think you could say something a little bit nicer?” “Okay,” he said, “Thank you.” Clearly, he has some learning to do when it comes to responding to his sister when she says, “I love you.” The truth is, we have a lot to learn as well. As followers of Christ, we know that He loves us and calls us to love other people. The question is, has God’s love really changed you?
We read in 1 John 4 all about God’s love. In this chapter, John wrote, “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them” (verse 16). In a profound statement, John teaches us that God is love. He is not only loving; He is love. That is who He is at His core. Not only is God love, but He loves us. He loves us not because of anything we have done or could do but because we are His children, and He is our Heavenly Father. We have nothing to prove. He just loves us.
John not only talks about God’s love in this passage of Scripture, but He also calls God’s followers to love as God loves us. After explaining God’s love for us, John wrote, “All who live in love live in God” (verse 16). Because of God’s love for us, we are called to live a lifestyle of love for everyone around us. As we love others, we show them a tangible expression of God’s love. This, my friends, is to be our response to His love.
When was the last time you thought about how much God loves you? Maybe it’s hard for you to believe He loves you because you do not believe you have earned God’s love. My friend, God’s love is given to you freely, and you are so loved by Him. Rest in His love today, and commit to spreading His love to the people around you. After considering His love, respond by showing Him and the people around us love.
Spend some time thinking about how much God loves you. Think about how He sent Jesus to die for your sins so that you could have eternal life. Next, respond to His love. Tell Him you love Him, too. Finally, commit to loving the people around you in response to His love.
1 John 4:1-20 (NLT)
"Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. 2 This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. 3 But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.
4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. 5 Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. 6 But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.
7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19 We love each other because he loved us first.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?"
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