Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. ² We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. ³ Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. ⁴ For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. ⁵ And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Faith

Do you remember why John was writing this letter? He wrote it around the same time that he wrote his Gospel. During that time, a group called Gnostics were making a lot of noise. For this group, the pursuit of knowledge was more important than anything else. John’s gospel, and his letters, were a response to the gnosticism that was creeping into the church.

Gnostics would focus so much energy on gaining knowledge that they would neglect the people around them. Their spirituality was wrapped up in books, learning, and debating truth. They looked down on those who were less educated and saw them as also being less spiritual.

So, John comes along as says, “Guys, it’s rather simple. If you believe that Jesus was the Christ, you’re a child of God. And, as a child of God, all you need to do is follow his commandments. And that’s not burdensome. Because his commandments can be summed up in loving God and loving others. By the way, all of this happens through faith.”

Of course faith is having confidence in something you cannot fully see or know. In a way, it’s the opposite of gnosticism. Faith is accepting that God’s ways are beyond our ways and while we can love God with all we are, we will never fully know or understand everything there is about God. Salvation doesn’t come in knowing all about God, it comes from having faith that God knows everything about us and yet still loves us.

My prayer: Lord, you know that I love knowledge. I love to learn and discover new things. And in itself, that is not wrong. You welcome our desire to discover. In fact loving you with my mind is all about learning more. However, may my pursuit of knowledge never push away my pursuit of you. You are far greater than anything I could ever learn. Amen.

Until tomorrow.

¹⁸ Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. ¹⁹ We love each other because he loved us first.

²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? ²¹ And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.

Don’t Lie

Okay, okay, we get it, John. Love God, love others. Time to move on, buddy.

And yet, John seems to save his biggest statement to the end. After spending more than a chapter of his letter challenging his readers to love God and love others, he throws out a very radical statement: If you claim to love God but don’t love others, you’re a liar. Wow. Don’t hold back, Johnny.

Of course, he’s right. You can’t do one without the other. To truly love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, you have to love the things that God loves. And God loves people. So, if you don’t love others, you are not grasping the heart of God. You are missing the point, and you are not loving God fully.

The more we love God, the more our hearts will be drawn to loving others. It’s just that simple.

In fact, if you want a measuring stick to determine how you are doing in your relationship with God, just look at how you treat others. If you are someone who attacks, criticizes, gossips, and tears down other people, then you are not someone who loves God. Sorry, you’re not. You may be someone who loves religion or loves the “idea” of God, but you’re not loving God.

So, love others. In doing so, you’ll discover you love God more and more. And, vice versa, love God and you’ll quickly fall in love with people.

My prayer: Lord, this is always a challenge. To love you more will mean loving others more. To love others more, will take loving you more. It’s an amazing journey we are on. Today, I choose to love. Amen.

Until tomorrow.

¹³ And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. ¹⁴ Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. ¹⁶ We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. ¹⁷ And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

God Is Love

I remember a teacher at Bible College saying to us, “Remember, God is love, not love is god.” At the time, I thought the guy was just being stupid. I mean, really? That’s the best you have?

Now that I’m a little older (a little???) and have a bit of experience under my belt, I think I know what he meant by that statement. It’s easy to get the two confused. Many seem to think that “all you need is love.”

The ultimate goal of a Christ follower isn’t to know love. It’s to know God. We are not called to draw people to love. We’re called to draw them to God. He is our focus. And as we focus on him, we discover what true love is. Because true love is only found within the character of God.

Why focus on this? Because when you make love out to be god, then it’s easy to get misled. Suddenly the ultimate focus is to never offend, never take a stand, never hold another accountable. But none of those things are what love truly is. Love is everything that we find in the great definition of 1 Corinthians 13. And that type of love is only found in God.

God’s character oozes love. But God is more than just love. Love motivates God, but doesn’t define him. Hope that makes sense.

My prayer: Lord, you have not called us to love …love. You have called us to love you and others. Help me to understand the difference and to focus my energy in loving you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Amen.

Until tomorrow.