Read 1 John 4.
Nobody got Jesus’s instructions about love more than John did. He is called the “apostle of love” because love was such a theme in his Gospel and in his letters. We’ve read about love repeatedly as we’ve read 1 John but 4:12, which we read today, makes a startling statement about love: “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
Think about that statement. Nobody on earth today has ever seen God. Some base their unbelief on that and deny God’s existence because they’ve never seen him. But verse 12 goes on to say that our love for each other is a visible demonstration of God’s existence. It is how we experience God (“God lives in us.”).
This kind of love is so much more than good feelings toward others. It is about what’s good for the other guy–putting my wants and needs behind what someone else wants and needs. It is about sacrifice by giving my time and money and attention freely when someone needs it. God is the one who compels people to act this way. It is his love for us and now in us that causes us to give ourselves unselfishly to and for others.
Who in your life needs this kind of love? Who least deserves it–remember, Jesus gave himself for us when we were far from deserving. Look for opportunities today to love like Jesus; when you do, it gets harder for unbelievers to deny God’s existence because they will see the supernatural evidence of his existence in your love for others.
