September’s number 1 song is this month’s series of devotions: “Looks Like Jesus.” Last week, we read Christ's last words to His followers before He ascended in part 1: "It's Your Turn." This week, let's explore a passage in 1 John 4...
PART 2: Love Like God
September 11th, 2022
1 John 4:7-8
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
John writes that we should love each other because love comes from God. That means God is the originator, author, and creator of the supreme ethic of the universe: LOVE. Love transcends all wrong. Love forgives. Love corrects. Love is God and God is love. If we want to look Like Jesus to the world, it means we must love like God.
John also says that if you don’t love, you don’t know God. It could be said that if you don’t know God, you don’t know love. For a world that seems to be all about love, that’s quite a revelation. To the world, love is acceptance. Love is tolerance. Love is ignoring wrong doing. Love is pretending there is no such thing as sin. Nothing could be further from the truth.
A true, loving parent WILL want the best for their child. A parent will teach a child what is right and wrong. They will praise a child for doing well. They correct a child for doing wrong. This is love like God.
God looks upon man and genuinely wants the best for all of us. He is willing to affirm and correct with all of His infinite wisdom and justice. He loves us so much He gave His son to die. He loves us so much, He will offer correction when sin is present.
So to love like God, we must have the correct definition of love. Not what the world says it is, but what God says it is.
We must love the people of this world. We must look at them, not with hate, but with a burden to see their soul saved. We may hate what they do, AND WE SHOULD HATE SIN, but we must look upon them with the love that God has for them. A love that desires the best for them: SALVATION. We are the key to showing the world what true love is. Not some fake Hollywood love. Not some twisted idea of love that the world adopts. True, Godly love. That’s the kind of love that He gave us when He saved us. That’s the kind of love the world needs to see in us. That’s the kind of love the world needs from us. Love like God.
- BFA