I am going to jump off the Hot Topics soap box just for a moment and share some words that were resonating with me today. They go like this:
8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:8-11
I had the privilege to write a research paper on 1 John in the Spring of 2008. Unlike Paul's letters which contain salutations and greetings this book appears to be a homily (sermon). But like the epistles, it was directed at a certain audience. It contains a wealth of information on Christian belief and life. An outline might look like this:
1. Theological Intro 1:1-4
2. What is Christianity 1:5-2:28
3. Life in the Church Family 2:29-4:12
4. The Confidence of our Faith 4:13-5:21
Intertwined within the whole of the book is the subject of love, and no passage illustrates this better than the above. This agape love that Christ showed to us is of a nature that it fills us and we cannot love God without also loving our fellow human, even (and especially) who we perceive as unlovable. I pray today that you and I will experience the love of Christ, and share it with those who deserve our love and those who do not. Whether the love is a feeling, or an action, or a noun. Let it fold on.
