I haven’t been up to speed as of late. With so much going on, paired with so much that I want to do, it feels like obligation and desire are in constant conflict, and it’s as if I’m in a pressure cooker, and I have no idea about the dish that’s going to come out of all of this.
You could say that it all started when we fared into that accident. To this day, I’m shocked by the lesson that was slammed into us that evening – that anything can happen to you, and to us, outside of our influence, outside of our power. It’s left me a little bit more protective of my Mom, and it’s as if I’m back to the days when the pandemic started – where I much prefer staying at home, except back then, we had no choice in the matter. There was a certain fear that crept into my psyche, and as I’m dealing with the repercussions, so, unfortunately, all that I have charge over would also suffer – including the ministry.
Which is why, today, of all days – the Sunday before the world celebrates Valentines’ Day on Wednesday – I feel that we ought to be reminded of love. And no, not just love as in mutual affection and understanding… but love that goes deeper than this – real love, true love, perfect love.
1 John 4:7-19 says the following:
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Looking at the start of these verses, we have the propensity to jump right away towards ‘let us love one another’, but let us give just a little attention towards ‘Beloved’: This tells me that John isn’t talking to just anyone, but to those whom he himself loves. More importantly, before he charges us to love one another, note – He could have repeated how he started off in 1 John 2 (‘My dear children’), or he could have started off with other titles – ‘Brethren’ (and ‘sistren’ as Pastor Nolan just couldn’t help but follow with each and every time), ‘Church’, etc.; No, I believe he intentionally sets the mood by subtly reminding us, before telling us of anything we ought to be doing – that we are not only his beloved, but God’s beloved as well.
He tells us to love one another, and while he approaches it by way of reminding us, I would also have us consider that this is our new default state as new creations in Christ, because of how he follows it up: ‘for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.’
Something that I know I said before, and I will say again: You can’t talk about love, without talking about God. Nor can you talk about God, without talking about love – Because, as we can see in this Word, God IS love. And now that I think of it, when we sing to each other that we love each other with the love of the Lord, well, it’s now coming off as redundant.
Anyway, yeah, we call ourselves beloved, and we are therefore able to love one another, all because we have been born of God, and we know God, and we know God is love – in God is love, through God is love, He IS love.
How are we so bold to say that we have been born of God? How are we so confident to say that we know the uncontainable, infinite and eternal God? Well, read on: In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Friends, another reminder: It’s not that we didn’t know God FIRST, but He was the One who knew us. We sing so fervently, ‘from my heart to the heavens’, when the truth of the matter is that God’s love was made manifest among us through Jesus Christ, His Son, who was sent into the world, to be the propitiation for our sins – the truth of the matter is, it’s not from our hearts to the heavens, at least not BEFORE it was from Christ, from the heavens to our hearts.
Lest we lose our focus, John finds it fitting to remind us again: Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
He calls us beloved yet again, but this time, in the light of what he just discussed, He is more intentional in not merely reminding us, but charging us – we’ve just been reminded of how God loves us, and as such, we have motivation to love one another. But He doesn’t stop there! John continues:
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
Friends, we’re able to love one another because we realize just how much God loves us; but today, we’re reminded – I’m reminded – that as always, He does not leave anything to chance… For we do not merely have motivation to love one another, but we have His Spirit. Yes, the Spirit who, in Romans 8, causes us to cry out to the Creator of the Universe, calling Him our ‘Abba, Father’; He’s the same Spirit who, in John 16 convicts the world of sin, convicts the ruler of this world of judgment, but convicts US of righteousness. It’s all to say that the love we have for ourselves and one another is rooted from the Truth of God’s love to us through Christ, but it is planted firm in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.
I don’t know where all of us are when it comes to relationships. I could imagine some of us are dealing with relationships, while the rest of us are in search of new relationships… maybe even wanting to end some relationships. But I will say this – in the light of all that’s going on in and around us, within our point of view, and beyond our senses – We need to be reminded today, as in every day, that the reason why we ought to keep going, is to love one another – we pray for one another, we help each other out, we help ourselves out, but let’s not forget that it all comes from our loving one another, and this love can ONLY come from God, through Jesus Christ – This love that we have through Christ is a perfect love that casts out all fear, but I believe it’s also a perfect love that brings in all peace.
If I have time, I’ll talk more about 1 Corinthians 13:1-8:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
Heading out now. As Don Williams prays, Lord, I hope this day is good.
More on Operation Brentbriar very soon, hopefully.
God bless us all.
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