1 John 4:7-21
Thursday, 21 December 2023
“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” - 1 John 4:7-8 [NLT]
Have you ever wondered: 'How do I experientially know God?' Naturally we might think of it as an out-of-the-world experience or mountain-top experience. The Bible sees it differently! Our God loves to be with us in our daily life.
True believers are given many ways by which they can experience God:
1. Talk with God through His Word (Hebrews1:1-2)
2. Eat from His word and drink of His Holy Spirit (John 6:35, 48, 63)
3. Fellowshipping of saints is experiencing God corporately (1 John 1:1-4)
4. Nature reveals its Creator-God all around us (Psalm 19:1-6)
5. Miracles and wonders are another way of experiencing God (Mark 2:1-12; 4:35-41)
6. Prayer is a time, when we can know Him (1Kings 17:22; Acts 4:31)
7. One and the most important way of knowing is by Loving! (1 John 4:7-21)
God is Love:
This simple statement should be the centre of our godly lives. If the centre is missing, all the rest falls out. What does it mean by 'God is Love’? It simply means- God's character is love. All His motives and actions ever done or He is doing or will do in the future, will be out of His divine character- love. Or in other words, we can say, He is LOVE. God's love is made manifest to us by sending His Son Jesus Christ to die for the atonement of our sin. 1 John 4:9-10 [NLT]: God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. It is a love that gives itself for others. In Him we have our being. So that this everlasting life flows through us expressing godly love.
Experiencing God:
See what John writes in these verses
1 John 4:12: No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us.
1 John 4:16: We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
Our God is not far away from anyone of us. But He is living on the inside of a born-again believer as the divine life. This produces a new creation- a new man. The peculiarity of this new man is that it starts exhibiting this divine love to his or her surroundings. As this divine love starts manifesting, the person who is the channel and the person who is the recipient will come to experientially know, God who is love. This is a mystery. The more we express this love the more we and others can experience God. As we experience God in this way the fruit of the Spirit will be the natural outcome and hence the name of God will be glorified through us. Jesus spoke thus: By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. [John 15:8-10 NKJV]:
Think about it: True love expresses God through our lives!!!
Listen: 'Love one another'