Without Love We Can't Know God

1 John 4:7-8 “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Love, something so celebrated and yet so misunderstood in our culture. Love that Christ’s calls us to is a supernatural ability that will require us to go beyond ourselves to fulfill it. 1 Corinthians 13, also known as the love chapter describes what is meant by love. Patient and kind, keeping no record of wrongs, it doesn’t dishonor, it’s always honest, it’s selfless. You can read the chapter for yourself and you will come to the conclusion you’ll need Jesus to accomplish what is laid out in scripture. We consider it difficult to love this radically with those we care for, but what about those we don’t, even an enemy perhaps?

Mathew 5:43-45 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.All through scripture it is clearly stated that love has to embody who we are if we are to call ourselves Christians. To belong to Christ, and be identified as his child, requires love. Christ did not require that we deserved forgiveness or deserved to be loved. Yet, while we were sinners (even enemies of the cross) he died for us. This is the example set by our savior, a love not based on feelings, merit, or even deserved. Freely given as an outflowing of who Christ is and who we are to be as Christians. This command comes with the equipping power of the Holy Spirit to do what we are called to do. Love, one word with many actions, all that will require death to self. However, this is how we are identified as children of God, or strangers to the cross. Ask the Lord to help you today, lean into His precious Holy Spirit and He will help you love like He has first loved us.

“Do not waste time bothering whether you love your neighbor; act as if you did.” – C.S. Lewis

Pastor Natalie Snider