GOD IS LOVE; First John

May the mumbling commence!

Love comes down from heaven.  That is truth.  But, where specifically does love come from in heaven?  Is it the angels or other heavenly beings?  Is it the great cloud of witnesses of our ancestors who have passed before us?

We need to dig deeper to find the specific source of love.  Read from First John chapter four (from the Darby Bible):

Beloved, let us love one another; because love is of God, and every one that loves has been begotten of God, and knows God.  He that loves not has not known God; for God is love. 

Herein as to us has been manifested the love of God, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins. 

Beloved, if God has so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has seen God at any time: if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us. (Verses 7-12)

Love one another.  It is a command that brackets this passage from First John chapter four.  It is essential to the Christian life – love one another.

Where do we go for love?  Love is of God.  God is love.  It cannot be plainer.

Love is of God.  God is love.  God manifested His love for us by the gift of His Son Jesus.  God’s love is sacrificial so that we might live.  Jesus died and rose again so that we might live through him.  Through Jesus, our sins our forgiven…

What does propitiation mean anyways?  That’s a lot of syllables!  Propitiation means to win somebody’s favor.  Jesus won God’s favor for us through his sacrifice and suffering and resurrection.

The wrathful God of the old covenant was being redefined in a new covenant.  With Jesus, God is fully appeased and we are reconciled with God.  Praise and glory to God!

Love is of God.  God is love.  But no one has ever seen God.

That is why we are told repeatedly to love one another.  When we love one another, the world will recognize that we follow Jesus.  When we love one another, we illustrate the love of God to the world – we put flesh on the love.

Then the world will begin to see the perfect love of God through us.

God is love.  Love is of God.  God loves us.  Let us love one another and show the world an illustration of the God of love.

Celebrate this perfect love of God as we approach the valley of Holy Week that ends in the crescendo of Resurrection Sunday.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out