"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 [NASB]
This verse is as clear as day, we are to love. If we know God, we are to love because God is in his very nature love. This is in itself a challenge. I think sometimes we soften what it means to love each other to make it easier, but later on in the passage it says "God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us". This means we have to love each other like God loves us, this is not a technicality love, a scrape-through love, this is full-on love, like God loves us.
During the Weekend Away at Home, Paul spoke about Jacob working seven years to earn Rachel, but is tricked into marrying Leah, and made the point that a father’s love does not discriminate. He used the phrase that to him each daughter was worth seven years. When he said this I realised if I were to try and love people as God loves, I have to think of the people I love the most and try and love everyone the same, as God loves everyone the same. This to me is the real challenge, because God loved me, I should love others and I should love them like God loves them, value them like God values them, each worth seven years.
No comments:
Post a Comment