Greetings, Friends!
I’m close to finishing studying and meditating on the book of I John during my morning devotional time. As I spent time pouring over John’s letter, I noticed he repeated certain phrases or themes a number of times: the words “anyone”, “whoever,” “everyone,” and “all”; “This is how we know….”; “Son of God”; “keep His commands”; etc. I’m now reading through I John every morning, writing down all of his statements under each category.
Of course, I John is well known…perhaps best known…for everything John says about love. He writes about God’s love for us, our love for God, and our love for one another. Consider what John writes about each of these loves. (These lists aren’t comprehensive.)
God’s love for us
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God” (3:1a; I love that word lavish!).
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (3:16; this one covers two categories!).
“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” (4:9).
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (4:10).
“We love because He first loved us” (4:19).
Our love for God
“But if anyone obeys His word, love for God is truly made complete in them” (2:5a).
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them” (2:15).
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (4:18).
“And He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister” (4:21; this transitions us into the third category….).
Our love for one another
“Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble” (2:10).
For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another” (3:11).
“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death” (3:14).
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (3:18).
“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen” (4:20).
By my count, John refers to God’s love for us eight times, our love for God six times, and our love for one another sixteen times. The gist of those sixteen comments is summarized in 4:19: “We love because He first loved us.”
Take some time this week to read through I John. Spend time in prayer, thanking God for the love He showed you through Jesus Christ. Spend time telling God how much you love Him. And ask for His love to be made real in you as you love…not “with words or speech, but with action and in truth”…your brothers and sisters.
Pastor Rich