Life. Today we looked at 1John 4:7-21. This is the Mt. Everest of passages when it comes to life. It's that huge. What should our life be defined by? Love. Love is a verb and a fruit. And this is only made possible by the miraculous inhabitation of the Spirit of God within us. If we are truly saved and in relationship with Jesus, we should be loving one another. Funny thing is we still get to choose whether we will love or not. Weird and amazing. Plus, we need to remember that other people are struggling through this truth and choice, as well. Further, we must consider this passage coming from John, whom the Romans had already tried to kill, but God spared his life, so they exiled him to the Isle of Patmos, where he would eventually write the book of Revelation. So, John's response to being treated so poorly was...to love them. Truly amazing. I have trouble loving the guy that cuts me off on the road, much less someone that might try to kill me. I'm a work in progress, I reckon, but it does speak into the commitment and experience required to be able to love other people. People make it very difficult to love people. I do better with animals. I guess that's why this requires a dependence on the Holy Spirit directing our lives. It's only then that I have the capability of loving others. Without that influence, I will only be selfish and love myself.
I agree with John that the fruit of our salvation is love. It makes sense, since God is love and He is the one that first showed love to us. So, if He is love, and He is influencing our lives, then we should be found guilty of love. It's proof that we are saved. I'm so glad this is in our Bibles. There are so many people that question their salvation and just can't quite get comfortable with the whole deal. Read the rest of 1John to be convinced. Love should set us apart from those that continue to choose to direct their own lives. As we read towards the end of "the book", it is clear that people will become lovers of themselves and the love of most will grow cold. Love will not be welcome in the world. So, just choosing to love will be very rare and considered offensive and out of the ordinary. That is a nasty world to live in that is in great need of redemption. Brace yourself.
I believe that loving others is the second hardest thing for humans to do. Next week, we will look at the most difficult thing for humans to do. But seriously, loving others is very difficult. It seems so natural when you are relating to someone that is likable and there is harmony, rainbows, bluebirds, etc. Ha! We would be naïve to think that every relationship would be like that. There are too many different types of people in the world, trying to make their way, not to mention the spiritual warfare going on. Unity is only made possible by the influence of the Spirit. It's what Jesus prayed for in John 17. He knows how unique we are as a people. He created us with great differences so that we would be driven to a complete dependence on Him to bring and keep us together. But we must choose...Love.
