God’s Love and Ours: 1 John 4 (Part 2)

[bl]D[/bl]ear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Sounds easy! Love one another. So why is it so hard? Why is it that our love comes out awkward or ill timed? Why do we pass up opportunities to show love but we’re quick to pass judgment? And why do we hide our love with pride and selfishness?

Why is it that all day long I plan to greet my husband with kind, gentle, I’m-so-glad-to-see-you words when he walks through the door from work….but instead I spew at him all the frustrating things the children did that day?

I often feel so inadequate with my love. It comes after anger. It’s not always available. And it reeks of favoritism.

The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

This truth cuts right to the heart of my imperfect love. Our imperfect love. We fear. We fear we’ll be rejected. That others won’t care for us the way we care for them. We fear we’ll be hurt. Or abandoned. We fear that our love won’t be enough. And ultimately, we fear that if our fears come true God won’t be able to heal and comfort.

This love blocking fear takes our heart captive. It causes us to hesitate. To over think how we express our love. To hold back. It provokes anger and suppresses love. When we fear, we end up spending more time protecting ourselves, than loving others.

There is no fear in love.

Fearless love. What does that look like?

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But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.

Perfect love comes from Love himself.

If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Isn’t that amazing? The perfect love of God is made more perfect and complete when it manifests in and through us! When we love others, we are completing God’s intention for his love. And his never failing, always available perfect love drives out fear and empowers our imperfect love.

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

And we work toward loving more like him.

This is how God showed his love among us; He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

He sent. God loves through giving. How can we imitate this way of loving? How can we give like God? I’m not talking about money. I’m talking about real giving. Hard giving. The kind that takes sacrifice. The kind that hurts because it’s selfless. The kind that sends you searching for those in need of love.

I’m talking about giving yourself, as God gave himself.

When we give our time and space – when we offer ourselves, our homes and families as environments of grace and love – we love like God. And when we give our words – offering hope and expressing grace with truthful, genuine, life giving words – we love like God. And when we go searching for people and places in need of love, thirsty for hope – we love like God.

This kind of loving takes more effort. But the reward is greater.

This is how God showed his love among us:

He sent his only Son. God loves by being near to us. His fullest expression of his love was coming to dwell with us. This act of coming in order to make himself known through the life of Christ reveals God’s longing for a relationship with his created people. The chasm between a holy God and sinful man is bridged, and we forever relate differently because of Jesus.

This kind of love is challenged by busy schedules and lists of tasks. With a quick flick of our fingers we can connect with people all over the world through email and Facebook. Amazing! But it takes time, energy and sacrifice to dwell with people. To love people by being available to them.

This is how God showed his love among us:

He sent his only Son into the world. God loves by being merciful. We equate mercy with helping – but it’s so much more than that. It’s entering into the world of others.

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It’s entering into their sin, pain, and helplessness. Entering into their darkness. Their grief. Their brokenness. And trying to understand it and show compassion toward it. It’s giving them hope and walking with them toward a new, redemptive reality. When we love through mercy, we love like God.

This is how God showed his love among us:

He sent his only Son into the world that we might live through him. God loves by being gracious. When we are unfaithful, he is faithful. When are sinful, he’s forgiving. When we deserve death, he gives us life. When we graciously give others what they don’t give to us – we love like God. When we love with forgiveness and undeserving expressions of grace, we offer life to people.

We love because he first loved us.

Our love is only possible because God loved us first. We received love, so we are able to give love.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

In this world – we are to be like God. We are to love! We are to show love, give love and be love for this created to love, love hungry world.

God is love. Let us love like him.

In this post, I share pictures of one of my favorite loves — the love between my children and my sister’s children. The way they love and dream together is beautiful.

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