1 John 4:7-12 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is 1 John 4:7-12. Let’s go!
1 John 4:7-12 (NIV)
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
On verses 7-12: This is one of my favourite passages in 1 John, so much so that when Sharleen and I got married this was the passage we chose to be read at our wedding. This passage is not just beautifully written; more importantly, it is one of the best summaries you will find in the Bible of what Christianity is all about, teaching us that:
· God’s very nature is love (v8 – “God is love”). To know God is to live a life of love (v7).
· It wasn’t that we loved God, but that God loved us, showing His love by sending Jesus Christ as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (v9-10).
· Having received God’s love, we are now called to love one another (v11). Just as a cross consists of a vertical bar and horizontal bar, true Christianity is when a vertical love between you and God connects with a horizontal love between you and others.
· Though God is invisible, as a church we experience God and His love when we love one another (v12).
I encourage you to store up this passage in your heart. Try memorizing this passage until you can recite it from memory. You’ll be blessed when you do.
Father, thank You for Your amazing love, displayed when You sent Jesus Christ for us. Since You loved us, may we also love one another. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
Copyright © 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
