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Love
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins...There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
1 John has a lot to say about love - what it is and what it isn't. I chose this bunch of verses to talk about today because I think they one of them in particular is often misquoted and misunderstood. Notice verse 19 - it says "We love because He first loved us" not "We love HIM because He first loved us". Many people make that mistake, and though that is not untrue, it is not the message of this passage and we miss out if we think it is. This passage tells us that our loving God isn't the main show - His love for us is the important part, proven by sending His son and pouring His wrath out upon Jesus for our sakes. That love transforms us and demands a response: love for others. If we are going to add any words into the verse, it should read "We love OTHERS because He first loved us."
This passage tells us that this is the visible proof of our love for God. You can SAY that you love God, but if you live your life hating everyone, the truth is obvious. Love for God always changes and filters into love for others. But that's hard, isn't it? Loving people really opens you up for hurt. The passage says something else that I feel is very significant: there is no fear in love. Fear has to do with judgment, but all of that is done. We no longer have to fear God's judgment because of the work of Jesus, and we no longer have to fear the judgment of other people because it is ultimately only God's opinion of us that matters. Because we are forgiven, we are free to unconditionally love others without fear.
It's easy to say, but one can spend an entire lifetime trying to put it into practice - fear is tenacious and has a vice-grip on a lot of our hearts. But that's what this life is about: learning to live more and more in the truths and promises of God and to love as He loves.
Questions? Comments?
Love
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins...There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
1 John has a lot to say about love - what it is and what it isn't. I chose this bunch of verses to talk about today because I think they one of them in particular is often misquoted and misunderstood. Notice verse 19 - it says "We love because He first loved us" not "We love HIM because He first loved us". Many people make that mistake, and though that is not untrue, it is not the message of this passage and we miss out if we think it is. This passage tells us that our loving God isn't the main show - His love for us is the important part, proven by sending His son and pouring His wrath out upon Jesus for our sakes. That love transforms us and demands a response: love for others. If we are going to add any words into the verse, it should read "We love OTHERS because He first loved us."
This passage tells us that this is the visible proof of our love for God. You can SAY that you love God, but if you live your life hating everyone, the truth is obvious. Love for God always changes and filters into love for others. But that's hard, isn't it? Loving people really opens you up for hurt. The passage says something else that I feel is very significant: there is no fear in love. Fear has to do with judgment, but all of that is done. We no longer have to fear God's judgment because of the work of Jesus, and we no longer have to fear the judgment of other people because it is ultimately only God's opinion of us that matters. Because we are forgiven, we are free to unconditionally love others without fear.
It's easy to say, but one can spend an entire lifetime trying to put it into practice - fear is tenacious and has a vice-grip on a lot of our hearts. But that's what this life is about: learning to live more and more in the truths and promises of God and to love as He loves.
Questions? Comments?
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