Contemplation #76
“If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” 1 John 4:12
Loving all others for the sake of Christ is a personal care and affection for each person simply because I am to be neighbor to all. This love is evidenced in a compassionate and heart-felt “going out” of emotion to each and every person. Prejudice, envy, distain, hatred, competitiveness, condescension, and every other dividing, belittling, and sinful urge to “use” others for our own benefit is replaced by giving, sacrificing, listening, honoring, respecting, helping, and merciful actions. As God-followers we cannot claim to love God and not be submitting ourselves to learning this love of others.
Contemplation #77
“If anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.” 1 John 2:5
Many times obedience is misunderstood as the way in which we make ourselves pleasing to God. We wrongly imagine that we should follow God’s commands because then he will be pleased, or more often appeased, and so we will be saved. We treat God like a pagan deity of wrath and hatred whose favor must be won. However, in relationship with our loving God obedience is the way in which we submit ourselves to God’s formation of our heart, mind, spirit, and body – not how we find grace. This verse is not saying that when we obey then God loves us completely, for John is not talking about God’s love for us but God’s love in us. The path to learning the love of God and having his love grow to completeness in us is to follow his instructions humbly. When our faith is expressed in obedience to God, we will grow to have godly love.
Contemplation #78
“If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15
We must read John’s words as instruction for how a godly love, that of the Father himself, dwells in us. John is not saying that if we love the world the Father doesn’t love us, for he is not talking about God loving us but how we come to live out a divine love in our lives. On this subject he says that there is absolute incompatibility between the selfish nature of fleshly desires and having God’s love. We must become detached from our affections for this world and an existence of self-indulgence if we are to be renewed with the perfect love of God. We cannot love ourselves, our own comforts, our own ambitions, and our own pleasures and others for God’s sake. We must choose to die to loving the world for ourselves in order to learn to love all God’s creation as the Father does.
“If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” 1 John 4:12
Loving all others for the sake of Christ is a personal care and affection for each person simply because I am to be neighbor to all. This love is evidenced in a compassionate and heart-felt “going out” of emotion to each and every person. Prejudice, envy, distain, hatred, competitiveness, condescension, and every other dividing, belittling, and sinful urge to “use” others for our own benefit is replaced by giving, sacrificing, listening, honoring, respecting, helping, and merciful actions. As God-followers we cannot claim to love God and not be submitting ourselves to learning this love of others.
Contemplation #77
“If anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.” 1 John 2:5
Many times obedience is misunderstood as the way in which we make ourselves pleasing to God. We wrongly imagine that we should follow God’s commands because then he will be pleased, or more often appeased, and so we will be saved. We treat God like a pagan deity of wrath and hatred whose favor must be won. However, in relationship with our loving God obedience is the way in which we submit ourselves to God’s formation of our heart, mind, spirit, and body – not how we find grace. This verse is not saying that when we obey then God loves us completely, for John is not talking about God’s love for us but God’s love in us. The path to learning the love of God and having his love grow to completeness in us is to follow his instructions humbly. When our faith is expressed in obedience to God, we will grow to have godly love.
Contemplation #78
“If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15
We must read John’s words as instruction for how a godly love, that of the Father himself, dwells in us. John is not saying that if we love the world the Father doesn’t love us, for he is not talking about God loving us but how we come to live out a divine love in our lives. On this subject he says that there is absolute incompatibility between the selfish nature of fleshly desires and having God’s love. We must become detached from our affections for this world and an existence of self-indulgence if we are to be renewed with the perfect love of God. We cannot love ourselves, our own comforts, our own ambitions, and our own pleasures and others for God’s sake. We must choose to die to loving the world for ourselves in order to learn to love all God’s creation as the Father does.
posted by Greg at 8:59 AM
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