7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:7-12 (NIV)
We reached a few conclusions:
- John must have been talking about some special type of love, a supernatural or Godly love. Certainly not everyone who just loves their dog or cares about someone else is necessarily "born of God."
- This kind of love that Christians are called to exhibit is not really natural. This type of love was most clearly and convincingly demonstrated to us in the Christ event: God sent his Son to pay the price for our sin and make us right with him.
- If we have trouble mustering up much love for other people, then there are a few things that we can do. We can:
- Simply ponder what God has done for us in Christ. Meditate on that sacrifice.
- Consider the magnitude of your cancelled debt, like the woman in Luke 7
- Obey his commands. Jesus said in John 15 that if we obey, we abide in his love.
- Ask God to increase our love for others. Jesus prayed in John 17 that we could have that kind of love that already exists inside the Trinity: "I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
John 17:26 (NIV)
Have a loving week.
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