God is Love

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.

(1 John 4:7-8 ESV)

God is love. Because God is love we should love one another. John makes it clear that if we don’t love then we don’t know God. Love is a fruit of the Spirit. If we have the Spirit indwelling us then we will love. This is such a whopping application to think about. Do you love? What fruit has God worked in you to show love?

Jesus had said that we will be known as Christians by our love for each other (John 13:15). The command to love each other as Christians beg’s the question- Are you in a local church community that you a have the opportunity to love other Christians? If we are not taking part in the body of Christ it is difficult to fulfill this expectation that Jesus has for us. We are not truly living the Christian life if we are not a part of a body of believers.

We can look at 1 Corinthians 13 to  get a grasp of what love is and what it is not. Love first and foremost is not selfish.  To truly be able to love we must put ourselves behind other people and put their best interest as our priority. We cannot live like the world and only think of ourselves- looking out for #1. No, we must love others by putting them ahead of our own desires.

So as we begin to look at God as love and as we see that the direct application is to love other Christians think of how you can love practically another child of God this week.