1 John 4:11-13

1 John 4:11-13

Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.  Nobody has seen God at any time.  If we should love one another, God remains in us and His love is having been made complete in us.  In this we know that we remain in Him and He remains in us: He has given us out of His Spirit.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

We continue today with the same themes that we studied yesterday.  We begin with a bold statement of fact.  If God loved us – and He has – then we ought to love one another.  Notice the word that John uses: “ought.”  In the Greek (“ὀφείλω”) the word literally means “to be obligated” or more precisely, “to be under an obligation.”  Love is not a choice.  Love is not something we turn on and off.  Love is our obligation.  While we were yet sinners, God loved us.  He sacrificed so that we might know relationship.  We are under an obligation to respond in forgiveness when our brothers and sisters in Christ sin.

How does it add to the challenge of love to hear John use terminology of obligation?  Does this make love less meaningful?

Second Thought:

So how do we know we can love?  How can we forgive?  How can we have it within us to forgive the people around us who do not deserve to be forgiven?  We have been given the Spirit of God.  The truth is that we do not have it within us on our own.  But because we have the Spirit of God within us, we can genuinely forgive.  Because we have the Spirit of God within us, we can love in any circumstance.  We know this because God has already proven that He can love in the face of sin.  If He can do it once, He can do it again and again within us.

Why is it important to remember that it is God who gives us the strength to love and it does not come from within ourselves?

Third Thought:

We now return to an unusual comment that John makes in this paragraph.  He says that nobody has ever seen God.  His inference is that we do not see God physically but we do see Him in each other when we love.  Given the thoughts in the prior two points this should make sense.  When do we see God the most clearly?  We see Him the most clearly when we experience forgiveness – that is, love.  We don’t have it within ourselves to forgive, especially in the big things.  But God does.  So when we experience someone forgiving another person who does not deserve to be forgiven we see God.  We sure don’t see God with our eyes.  But we do see His Spirit in every act of sacrificial, forgiving love.

Where have you seen God?  What does that picture of God look like?

Passage for Tomorrow: 1 John 4:14-16