Part Two: How is the love of God evidenced in my life?

Yesterday, we looked at the manifestation of God’s love. God’s love was expressed in sending Jesus so that we can have life. This message of reconciliation is exclusive to those who place their faith in and submit to Jesus, the son of God. Today we’re continuing in 1 John 4 and looking at our response to God’s love.

1 John 4:11-12: “Beloved, if God 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.”

1 John 2:15-16 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

We see a stark contrast of what we are to love. We are commanded to love God and others but not to love the “world.” We must clarify what the “world” is referring to in this context. John said in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world . . .” so we see that God, on the one hand, loved the world but on the other hand he rejects it. The “world” God loved and we should love from John 3:16 is the created order especially consisting of people. The “world” we are commanded not to love, as expressed in 1 John 2:15-16, is the system of sinful virtues believed by people who do not identify with God.

Here’s the problem. Many Christians root their identity in what they don’t love rather than who they do love. Allow me to explain. For many, to be Christian means a list of ways in which they are different from the “world.” They labor and talk about not being “worldly” as they cling to 1 John 2:15-16 as the theme of their life. However, in their conviction to not love they have forgotten to love.

To be Christian is to experience the “love of God” manifested in Jesus’ death burial and resurrection. To be Christian is to abide in God and God abide in you. To be Christian is to reject sin and embrace the virtues of God. And finally, to be Christian is to love God and others.

Have you experienced the love of God? Is the love of God seen in your life?