QT 2/5/2025 1 John 4:13-21, How do we define love?

1 John 4:13–21 (ESV) —

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 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. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 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. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

 

NOTE: John writes that "we love because he first loved us." Don't miss the significance of that statement. We can't truly love until we understand what he did on the cross for each of us individually. We can't love until the Holy Spirit resides in us, which occurs upon belief in Jesus. And if we are hating our brother, then we really do not love nor know Jesus.

 

There are a lot of "love" religion people on the left side of the political spectrum (probably also on the right). They espouse love but truly hate those on the right (and again, I think it happens in both directions). I am on the right, politically, but I don't hate the left and their vitriol. I hate the policies and ideas because they destroy people. People are made in the image of God and deserve respect. When we promote people on the basis of a gender or race, and not on merit, we destroy their self-worth and others who won a job on the basis of hard work. We create more anger when we elevate people for any other reason than that they deserve it.

 

If we truly love people, we must treat all people with respect, even those who are wildly against our ideas. Everyone deserves to be treated fairly. Everyone has an infinite intrinsic value because they are made in the image of God.

 

PONDER:

1. Do my values come from the world system? Or do they come from God's word?
2. Do I hate people, or do I hate the damage people do to other people?

 

PRAYER: Father, continue to show me where my words and actions do not agree. I want to love, not the fake way that the world talks about love, but the way you talk about love.