“It is true that no human being has
ever had a direct vision of God. Yet, if we love each other God does actually
live within us, and his love grows in us towards perfection. And …the guarantee
of our living in him and his living in us is the share of his own Spirit which
he gives us (I John 4: 12-13, Phillips).”
A couple of months ago, I wrote a
Daily Bible Blast on this same portion of scripture [“The Narthex Game,” June
29, 2018], emphasizing how I finally began to believe that God actually does
love me. Today, I’m thinking about how I
might pass love on to others. Verse 19 says that “We love because he first
loved us.”
That’s the answer, then. If I know I
am loved, I want to extend it others. Sounds simple enough, and it’s quite easy
to do – for those who are easy to love. But what about fellow believers who are
difficult to like, those who are contentious, disruptive, uncooperative, etc? God
calls us to love all in the body of Christ, and somehow we need to learn to
love the unlovely – something definitely not a natural thing to be inclined to
do. So, I may want to love others because I am loved, but how am I able to go
beyond my “natural inclination” to love only those who love me or who are easy
to love?
God has given us a “share of his Spirit”
that guarantees that we are living in him and he in us (vs 13). We rely on his Spirit in us to love others – especially
all our brothers and sisters he places in our midst (our local church body), those
we rub shoulders with in ways that can rub us the wrong way! May we allow his
Spirit to work in our hearts to pass on love from our Lord to his children,
that we might live in unity.
Dear, Lord, thank you for giving us your Spirit to live in us, helping us
love in ways we never thought we could.
Help me to willingly pass on your love and care to my brothers and
sisters, not only for their sake but also that those who don’t know you yet
will see and “know we are Christians by our love.” Amen.
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