1 John 4:7-11 NKJV
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
In the passage above we read that (v7) God is love, and that everyone who loves is born of God and truly knows God. Now you may be thinking to yourself, I loved other before I accepted God as my Savior. That’s where our definition vs. God’s comes into play. I’ve used this illustration before, I love ketchup, I love my brother, and I love my wife and son. I use the same word to describe how I feel towards food as I do for my feelings for my son. How messed up is that?? Obviously to everyone who speaks English, I don’t have the same feelings towards food as I do my son. But for someone who doesn’t know our language how would you explain the difference? Even trying to use “like” vs. “love” can get cloudy. The facts are that its hard to explain. However, God’s love and what John means in this text are clear. Before we knew God relationally we had a shallow understanding of what love was. At best we understood the different loves between human relationships. But once we become God’s we gain a brand new understanding of a stronger, infinite love that only comes from God. We can understand how to love someone without necessarily liking the person or what they do.
Take a look at verse 9 again. “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” Everyone over does the whole John 3:16 thing, and we lose the meaning behind it. That’s why I love 1 John 4:9. It gives the same message in a slightly different wording that causes us to stop and think of what is being said. This immeasurable, infinite, all powerful love that God has for you was proven when He sent His only Son into the world to die for our mistakes so that we wouldn’t have to. If I were to try to sit down and write a list of every mistake (big and small) that I’ve made in my 20+ years I’d never finish. I couldn’t list all of them I’ve had in the past month, they are too numerous to count.
Many people if asked who say they’d sacrifice their life for someone they care about. But I don’t know many who would willing sacrifice their only child for someone else. That’s a strong love. That’s why in verse 11 John says “…if God loved us that much, we also ought to love one another.” Meaning, if God would go to that great of lengths to prove His love to all of us, that we all have worth in His eyes. We should have a loving respect for each other in that we were all made in His image. The least we can do is acting lovingly towards one another. In doing that, the most loving thing you can ever do for someone is tell them about God. Even the smallest, most simplistic conversation about God and His love and plant and seed in someone’s heart, eventually leading them to turn their life over to Christ.
Instead of saying “what is love?” we should be saying “who is love?” And when someone asks you “what is love?” you can proudly proclaim that God is Love.
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