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| Connected |
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. 10 This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven. 11 Dear friends, if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another. 15 If we declare that Jesus is the Son of God, we live in union with God and God lives in union with us. 16 And we ourselves know and believe the love which God has for us. God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them. 1 John 4:7-11, 15-16
John says that God is love and love comes from God. All of God’s thoughts, words, and actions are motivated by love. His essence is love. Therefore, to begin to love in the ways 1 Corinthians 13 talks about—how God wants us to love—we first need to know God. John helps us get to know God better by telling us more about God, especially about how God showed His love for us.
God craves a real connection with us, but since God is holy and we are sinful, our sin blocks our path to Him. However, God loves us to so great an extent that He sent His Son to take on our sins and bear the punishment we deserved. That is incredible love!
Now the way is clear for us to live in union with God, just like He so deeply desires. We can get to know Him, live in His love, and can allow Him to work in our lives, equipping us to love others with God’s kind of love.
Up next will be Part 4--the last in the LOVE series. This post will highlight a moment of understanding and clarity that I received as the culmination of my ruminations on love.
Many blessings,
Pam
©2012 Pamela D. Williams
