Last week in Re|engage, we talked about Love, and how God defines it in the Bible. One thing we looked at was 1 John 4:7-21; my map of the passage follows:
This is another passage I’ve seen many times before, but I was struck by the beauty of how it is all put together. There is an encouragement, a definition, an impact, and a rationale. Or, we should love, this is what that means, this is what will happen if we do, and this is why we do.
Rather than base our ideas of love on Hollywood (or Bollywood, as the case may be), we see that Love comes from and is defined by God, and finds it’s pinnacle in Jesus’ incarnation and propitiatory death on the cross for our sins. If we love like that, it will be evident that God is working in us, since otherwise that kind of love is impossible. The more God’s love shines through us, the more God gets the glory for any good we do, and the more confidence (and less fear) as we consider facing God at the end of our days. Loving our tangible, physically present brother right now is practice for the love we claim to have for the God who is unseen –yet eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18).
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