1 John 3:11-24
As humans we do not perceive the spiritual realm and its realities well at all. So that presented God with a “problem” — how to reveal to us the love He has always had for us. His solution was to do something. Since doing and living are inseparable, we could also say that God’s solution was to live His love for us.
Because Jesus wanted me to see clearly His love for me, He died for me. Notice what 1 John 3:16 says — “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Imagine that! Had He not put our lives ahead of His own, we could not have known His love for us.
Furthermore, He gave His life so that we might have an example to follow in our relationships with others. The conclusion of that verse tells us how to make our own love perceptible to others. To show my love for others I must live it by putting their best ahead of my own.
That meshes so well with Ephesians 5:2 — “Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us.” Jesus valued me enough to put my best interests ahead of His own life. And that’s how He wants His people to live on this planet: revealing love through sacrificial living.
(Excerpted from The Test of Love)
Why, then, should I love another?
“For love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God” (1 John 4:7).
It’s about God!
It’s about being born of God.
It’s about knowing God.
Excerpted from Love? Why?
