Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8
God is love and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. To Know God is to love God, and loving Him causes us to love one another. We cannot love God whom we have never seen, and hate those who we can say. This means hate has no place in the church of God, which is the pillar and ground of truth. For love is of God.
John the beloved disciple focused much of his writings in his epistles on love. He writes that God is love — the very essence of God is love. We cannot encounter God without experiencing His love for us, and in turn having His abundance of love flow through and out of our lives. Anyone who does not love, does not know God. How can we know what love is? Should we rely on what we feel from others? Is love more than a feeling?
The word of God teaches us that love can be discerned in observable behavior in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
We can glean from the text that love endures, it will never give up on you. So it is with our God whose very nature is love. I know people who actually do evil deeds, but love does not even think evil. Which means, that if someone speaks evil against you, they are not demonstrating love in that moment. Because God is love and His word is true, we can know love when we know God. Beyond our feelings, God reveals Himself so that we can know exactly what love is, and what it is not. Far too many people are seduced by the lust of the flesh, and for a time, they perceive physical acts as love. In truth, it is more often defilement than love, because love is patient (long suffering) and does not seek its own. Those who submit to lust seek their own and are most often impatient.
What would our world be like if more people were born of God than born of Adam and Eve? The nature of human behavior and the policies that prevail in governmental systems would reflect love, more than a lust for power and untold riches. The world would be governed by godliness and our generation would experience the prophecy spoken by Isaiah in chapter 9 and verse 7 — Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Imagine a government established in peace and justice. What a wonderful world this would be. So let us love one another to reflect the nature of our God. If you are among those who do not demonstrate love in your daily life; I suggest that you get to know God better, for everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
Maranatha
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