1 John 4

As you make your way through I John, chapter 4, it’s really hard to miss the LOVE theme screaming at you, right? And, why would we want to miss anything having to do with love? I mean, love is a favorite topic of conversation in many of my circles. And, let’s not forget all of the cliches, song titles, song lyrics, and campaign slogans out there about love:

Love is love

Love is in the air

I’m in love

“Twu wub” IYKYK

God is love

Tough love

Endless love

Love one another

Love wins

…and on and on and on!

Yeah, ain’t love grand? It just sounds so romantic, right? Like, a fairy tale (insert deep sigh.) It makes me think of, I don’t know, puppies, daffodils, high school prom, 80s music, and wedding gowns all wrapped up in exquisite wrapping paper with a beautiful bow on top. Ah, love; so simple, so free.

But, in my next breath, I have to laugh; because, Sweetie, real love ain’t simple and it ain’t free!

Now, I’m a blessed person, when it comes to love, I really am. I was born to very loving parents, I have an insanely loving husband, I have a very loving sibling and siblings-in-law, a very loving mother-in-law, and wonderfully loving friends. I am truly a well-loved person. I’ve heard about love, especially God’s love and loving God my entire life – no really! My whole life! But then somewhere along the way I began to understand more of what God’s love was really about and what it meant for me to try to love like God, which, as you see in I John 4, we as Believers are called to do. That’s when all this love gets a little more complicated! Check out John’s words in verses 7-10:

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love – not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Um, ouch. That whole part about God loving us first – in our rebellion, in our chaos, in our confusion, in our great imperfection; when we were…well, lost – is pretty humbling.

See, the truth about real, genuine love is that it’s not easy to do at all – especially done the way our perfect God does it. Real love is complicated, it’s complex; it’s often offered, but not reciprocated; it can hurt so badly that you feel like you can’t breathe sometimes; it can be as ordinary and non-romantic as doing the laundry; it’s messy and frustrating and can honestly just about drive you crazy! Yep, this is what real love is like, and no one knows that any better than God. 

But if our perfect God is willing to love us in our imperfection, we must love others just as He loves us! And, that means things can get a little dicey.

The problem is we, humans, want the fairy-tale love; we want love to feel good all the time; we want it to be convenient for us to love and easy to sustain; we want to love when we decide the person deserves it or has earned it. Hmmm, sorry, but according to the Scriptures above, that’s not how God loves us – and, you know what? I’m so glad!

And that’s not all: John takes this whole loving-others-thing a step farther and says that when we love like God it shows that we’re His children AND that we know Him. We know Him. I don’t know about you guys, but of all the many things that can and will be said about me, in my lifetime and after, the one I want to hear so badly is that,

Sherra knew God. And we know she knew Him by the way she loved others.

It’s a tall order, to be sure, but one that is so vital in our world today. Maybe more than ever before, there’s a world out there who needs to know the real love of God. When we are able to truly love like God – when it’s crazy hard – lives can be changed forever. 

It really gives new meaning to the verse, God is love, doesn’t it?

I John 4 Questions

1.  The love of God is unconditional; look up the word unconditional in a dictionary. Have you experienced an earthly love you felt was close to unconditional love? How does or did that love make you feel?

2. We often read of God as a good Father. Probably the closest most of us will ever come to loving unconditionally is in loving our children. Think about a time when you were frustrated with one of your children. Did you love him or her any less in that moment? Why or why not?

3. Is it really that important to love others as God loves us? Why or why not?

4. How does it feel to know that God does and will always love you, whether you earn or deserve it?