GOD IS LOVE and HE IS LIGHT
1 John 3:16-21 God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 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.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 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. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Love. How much is written about love in the scriptures? The more we study Jesus, the greater His love is revealed. And, the more His love is revealed the more we are required to live in love.
One reason I enjoy studying 1, 2, and 3John is the focus on love and light. How much love are we supposed to have? We are expected to love enough to lay down our lives for another. But how do we do this?
May I suggest that laying one’s life down for another could be as simple as building that person up, and it certainly means that we live in the light and we do not consort with the darkness.
Did you ever hear of the duckling who was rejected by his mother? The farmer, being a compassionate man, placed the rejected duckling with the chickens. All was well until one day the farmer heard a commotion and followed the noise down to the pond. The duckling was circling the pond with one webbed foot in the water and the other foot on dry land. As he walked he very loudly flapped one wing and squawked, “Cockle doodle quack quack, cockle doodle quack quack.”
Just like that duck, we must choose where we spend our time—for Disciples, our choice is in the light rather than in the darkness, in God’s extraordinary love instead of hate and unforgiveness.
May we love like Jesus and live like Jesus, and may we invite others to join us in the light.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
- Posted in: Blogs
