1 John 4 - Love

1 John 4:7-21

7) love one another. love comes from God (not from ourselves)

Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. (This is interesting to me bc i know nonbelievers that do love. That do give to the poor and do serve a lot better than some believers)

8) Anyone who does not love does not love God, for God is love. (In the same way, believers and non believers I know - love and hate almost equally..)

9) God showed us love by sending Jesus, so we might have eternal life through Him.

10) This is real love- not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as sacrifice to take away our sin. (The part about SENDING Jesus sticks out to me today more than the sacrifice part. Like the fact that God was distant from Jesus for us, and THEN sacrificed him).

11) Since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. (It's that THAT much love should be inside us - pouring out of us to each other. Not that we owe it to God to love each other but that it should just happen! If THAT much love is here... there's no room for hate.)

12) If we love each other, THIS is how God is brought to full expression. (I see that He delights in our love for others).

13) God has given us the Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. (Bc if he was an unimaginable being-God, or a human-Jesus... then we can't picture Him living in us).

14) The father sent his son to be the savior of the world.

15) All who confess that JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD, have God living in them, and they live in God. (This verse doesn't say anything about action, just confession of the truth).

16) We know how much God loves us and we put our trust in His love. (I wonder who "we" is here. Because this is something I struggle with. His love is proven through sending Jesus and sacrificing Him AND saving us from sin... but its still unfathomable. I still have trouble "knowing" and "trusting"

17) And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgement, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. (living in God is loving. The more we love, the more perfect that love becomes).

18)

to be continued...

How to love others:

pray

give

spend time with them

correct them in their sin - Hebrews 12: 5-12. He disciplines us so we might know him and share in His holiness (10)

john 7 - the holy spirit will flow from us

with one drop in us He can become a river

Romans 5:5