Hidden Root of Love; 1 John 4

May the mumbling commence!

Love is powerful.  It roots are often unseen.  Yes, roots are unseen because they are hidden beneath the surface.  We must look beyond the surface of things so that we can see and love as God loves.  Read from First John chapter four:

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 20-21)

I know for a fact that sometimes I can be hard to love.  If I am truthful with myself (and I would imagine many people feel this way), sometimes I find myself hard to love.  I mess up.  I make mistakes.  What is worse – sometimes these mistakes are a part of a larger pattern.  I would hope that even though I might make many mistakes, I would rarely make the same mistake twice.  I wish that were true of me, but it is not.

God knows all this about me and you.  In fact, God knows even more than we know.  And God still loves us.  Who are we not to love ourselves?  Who are we not to love our brothers and sisters?

If we are honest with ourselves, sometimes we find it difficult to love our brothers and sisters.  Sibling rivalry arises time after time.  It seems we do not learn.

John tells us that if we cannot love a brother, whom we can see, then we cannot love God, whom we cannot see.  In other words, we need to look at other people as being “God with skin on”.

When we look at our brothers and sisters, who do we see?  Do we see people as they are?  OR do we push ourselves to see people as God created them to be?  There is great potential in each human being – each is made in the image of God.  Do we look beyond the surface of people around us to see the potential evident?  Can we look at one another as Christ looks at us?  Better yet, can we see Christ in all our brothers and sisters?

If we can see beyond the surface to the root of love, we will have no choice but to love ourselves and our brothers and sisters.  As we express this love together, we help to make God visible to the world.

Yes, love is powerful because of its unseen roots in God.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out