Devotion: 1 John 4:7-8

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.

Dear friends… I love that John starts this verse with dear friends, though he is in the middle of his book and in the midst of his thoughts. It just shows the compassion and care he has for those he was writing to in this epistle. He truly cared for those who were reading his words and wanted them to listen to the words he had to share.

As with the other days, each time love is used in these two verses we see the Greek form agape. The love that John is encouraging believers to express towards one another is a perfect, Godly love. It is a love that originates from Him, not from within us, because love comes from God. The love we have was first shown to us (1 John 4:19) and is borne of the Holy Spirit. We love because He first loved us and He loves others through us with the Holy Spirit.

John encourages believers to love one another, not just because He loved us first, but because we have been born of God and we know Him. It is a natural response to the love He lavishes on us and is actually a core essence, character, and nature of Him. Therefore, true love is not just an emotion but a divine attribute and something we should be expressing towards others as a result of the transformation within us when we became believers.

This love is not passive; we engage in an active, practical, and everyday practice of showing love within the community of faith. It is not a love that happens one day only or once every now and then, but is continuous and ongoing.

Dear friends, it is my prayer that you, too, are experiencing this love from your fellow believers and are loving them and others in return. If not, it may be time to evaluate your walk with God and gain a better understanding of the love of our Savior, the sacrificial, perfect, complete love.

Prayer: Lord, Help me to actively love others at all times, loving them as You have loved me and continue to love all of us. Amen

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