May the mumbling commence!
God is light. God is love the two are connected in First John. Let us spend a few moments thinking about that connection, as defined in First John chapter two:
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. (Verses 9-11)
Walking in the light of God means that we need to leave hate behind and live in love. But, again, what is love? Well, we need to look at God for an accurate definition of love. In First John, I look to a passage from chapter four that contains the word love and its derivatives a total of twenty-seven times. Read it below:
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 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. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. (Verses 7-21)
Wow! Where do I start?!? All true love comes from God. This true love that comes from above involves sacrifice. And this sacrifice is not based upon the desirability of the people being sacrificed for or the probability that the people might accept the gift of sacrifice.
In fact, you and I reject the sacrifice of love that God gave to us through the death of His Son, Jesus, whenever we hate another person. When we hate, we walk in the darkness of this world and reject both the light and the love that God offers to our lives through Christ.
Love in not a feeling. Love is not something we “fall into” or “out of.” Love is defined by the sacrifice that I am willing to make for people around me. Love is not defined by what others are willing to do for me. And make no mistake we are called to sacrifice for the sake of other people.
You see, God is not visible to us. One way of making God real to the people around us is to love them – to sacrifice our time and talents and money and possessions to make sure everyone has what she needs. If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
But let’s not get too heady about this love and sacrifice that we make in our little spheres of influence. Our love is a response to the love of God. To love God and others is the rightful response to the work of Christ Jesus.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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