Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Loving God and Loving Others

friends"Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God--for God is love."

"God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."

"Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other." (1 John 4:7-11 NLT)


God is love and if we know God we should be loving others. If one does not have love in their hearts, they don't know who God really is.

The passage says that love comes from God and at the same time...He is love. God showed this when He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins. This act was not because of our love for God. On the contrary, we have time and again refused God's love by being disobedient. Even with this, God still loved us and its ultimate expression was seen on the cross. He gave love and He was love at the same time.

If God loves us so much why then shouldn't we love others as well. Usually we only care about people when we are loved back. But this isn't the way God operates and it isn't the way He wants us to live. The "turn the other cheek" principle is at work here.

This is indeed a very difficult teaching and I admit that on my own I cannot do it. It is my prayer that the Lord causes me to love others even if I find them unlovable. Only through the Lord can one follow this teaching.

Based on the Quiet Time Journal of Saddle Back Church

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posted by Henry Marcos @ 3:09 AM Comments: 0