Are You in Love?

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.  You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.  They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.  We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us.  This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.  Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God  is love. This is how God showed his love: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love:  not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us,  we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if  we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.  We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in  God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." I John  4:1-16

 

What a mouthful today's verse is!   I could camp out on this verse for days, gleaning so many nuggets of truth to contemplate.  I particularly like the part about "relying on the love God has for us."  Reliability is difficult  to find these days.  People can- and ultimately do- let us down.  But we can count on the love God has for us. His love is vast, limitless and without end.   It is unconditional, pure and all-encompassing.  Praise God for the love he has for us!

 

Not only does God have love for us, he is love.  I have found myself meditating on that quite a bit these days.  Love motivates us to care for people and meet their needs.  Love compels us to act in the other person's best interest.  Because he is love and because he has  repeatedly emphasized in his Word the love that he has for us, it must be a pretty important concept to grasp.  When I truly connect with the reality that he loves me so fully, it increases my faith.  I can then believe that he will take care of me, walk beside me, works things out for my best and anything else I can think of.  Because love defines him, his  ways are always beneficial, pure and good.  Thank you Lord, for such lavish love!

 

Because Christians come to live within the body of Christ, we will have to constantly be in love.  We cannot be in him and not be in love!  How does a person in love act?  They are full of affection, good thoughts, desires to know more about the other person, desiring to be with them all the time.  Challenge yourself to love God in that way.  Don't let the luster of new love wear off of your relationship with him!    

 

Dear Lord, thank you that I can rely on you.  Thank you for showing me what love looks like and sharing love with me.  Help me to return your love with the same passion that you show. In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

 

Sherri