God’s Love in Full Expression
Today’s Scripture: 1 John 4:7-12
Key Verse: 1 John 4:12
But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us.
Someone asked, a long time ago, is love really love if one never expresses it?
I suppose a person who has never had another express love could truly love someone, but they may not have had someone to act as a model to help know how to express it.
The Apostle John hammers away about expressing love to one another. Of course, John got this emphasis from Jesus who said loving our neighbor is the second greatest commandment, only secondary to our love for God.
The great news is that when a person accepts Jesus and God forgives their sins, the Holy Spirit lives in that person. If God’s Spirit lives in us, then we will love God and one another. When we love one another, it proves that God lives in us, and we bring to full expression God’s love in us.
Please take a moment to think about the meaning of our Key Verse for today. What does it mean to have God’s love in “full expression” in you?
It may help to think about an opposite: what does it means to have your anger in full expression? Have you ever been the recipient of someone fully expressing their anger? I guess most of us have and agree that it is no fun.
However, when someone fully expresses their love for us, that can be a blessing beyond description. A blessing beyond description to those around them is exactly what God intends for His children to be.
All this talk about fully expressed love is only rhetoric without God’s Spirit living in us. No one can fully express this Christlike love without divine help.
The Apostle reminds us that when we declare our faith that Jesus is the Son of God, it proves that we have God’s Spirit in us (1 John 4:15). Those who have truly declared Jesus as the Son of God and have received Him in their lives do so because they have been convinced of God’s love for them.
True Christ-followers have put their trust in God’s love for them (1 John 4:16). To put one’s trust in God’s love for them is a huge step for most people. Humanly, we can easily believe in another person’s love for us. However, we know that we are just not capable to earn God’s love because our sinfulness far outweighs our saintliness.
The Bible says that we must “live by faith” in all areas of our life. The greatest challenge to our faith is to trust in God’s great love for us. As we stay in step with God’s Spirit within us, He will lead us to the crossroad where we must take a stand and trust in God’s love.
Father, lead me to your love and help me to get rid of all the negative thoughts about myself. May I be a full expression of your love to those around me. In Jesus’s Name I pray, amen.