Since God Loved Us So Much

The Spirit Comes
The Pledge of God's Presence

Believe God's Love

1 John 4:7-12 The Message

God Is Love

^7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.

^11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

 

For Reflection

 How can we learn to love unconditionally? To what extent can we accept the risk associated with unconditional love?  How can we avoid expecting a return on our love?  How can we love those who are difficult to love?  How can we build a loving community among the fellowship of believers?  How can we act in love with the steadfast confidence in God's promise to make things right? How can we learn to love ourselves to such an extent that we are confident that we are loved as a child of God?  How do we tell each other that we love them as God has loved us?

Pray

for answers to these questions.