Loving God and loving people have been twin themes throughout the book of First John. Our teacher and instructor John the apostle has been sharing with us the love of the Almighty God for people and His mighty efforts to have fellowship with them. God loves us, and He has made great provision for our involvement with Him through His Son Jesus Christ. Now John's attention has moved to the outpouring of the love of God in our lives which is to love others. Yesterday's verse told us that if we have love toward others, we are born of God and know God. Today John shares with us the opposite position in First John chapter four and verse eight where he wrote:
He that loves not knows not God; for God is love.
Wow! Are those ever daunting words. When we read such lines as these we should immediately wonder if we really love or not. In other words, “How's your love life?” Do we really love others as God desires? Do we love only those who love us but are greatly challenged when it comes to loving other people? What about loving those who seem “unlovable”? How do we perform when people are contrary to us, have different backgrounds than us, come from varied cultural and social upbringings? How do we do with these? John says, “he that loves not, does not know God”. Do we know God? Really, let's stop and think about it. Do we know God.
God is love. God loves everyone. Look at John's words in the gospel of John chapter three and verses sixteen through eighteen:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The outflow of us when we truly love God is that His love will flow through us. When we understand just a small amount of how much God loved us in our fallen sinful state and came to save us from perishing, we realize that He can do the same for everyone else too – no matter what their background may be. When we come to grips with our own lostness, our own error, our own sinfulness, and allow the love of God to flow into our lives through the death of Jesus in our place on the cross, we will love others in the same manner. Look at the way the apostle Paul wrote it in the book of Romans in chapter five and verse eight:
But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
In other words, while knowing that we would be sinners, God demonstrated His love toward us by dying on the cross. Other people are sinners too. Other people have faults, errors, mistakes, wrong beliefs, different backgrounds and ways, and God loves them so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die for them just as He did for us. God loves us, and God loves others. We are to love God and love others even as God does. Those who love others know God and are born of God. Those who do not love others do not know God. So, how's your love life? Today is a great day for self-examination.
Next time we shall take a look at what John has to say about how God showed us His love, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow...there is more...
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