God’s love and our love
Movement 1: All the love
Read
1 John 4:7-12, 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. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
Reflect
In these few verses, the word “love” is mentioned 13 times in some form or another. It is a command: we are to love one another. It is something that God gives us: love comes from God. God equals love. He showed his love by sending Jesus. And by loving one another, his love is made complete in us. This one little word is used in so many ways.
Which one of these uses of the word “love” stands out to you today? Is God bringing to mind someone He wants you to love? Is He wanting you to receive his love? Is He wanting you to reflect on Jesus, the symbol of his love? Is He wanting his love to be made complete in you?
Pray
Ask God which of the questions above He is asking you today. Sit quietly and reflect on that question. Listen to His answer.
Movement 2: Love That passes all understanding
Read
1 John 4:13-16, This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
Reflect
The Trinity is highlighted in these verses. The Father sent the Son and also gives us His Spirit. As we declare the three in one, we come into union with God. We are joined with Him held together by the bonds of love; perfect, unconditional love. Just as we have heard that His peace passes all understanding, His love passes all understanding too. It is hard for our human brains to comprehend the idea of perfect, unconditional love. But He invites us in deeper and deeper...
Pray
Engage in listening prayer. Ask God to take you deeper and deeper into understanding His perfect, unconditional love. Ask Him to deepen your union with Him. Ask Him to expand your understanding of His love for you. Let your brain go. Don’t try to make sense of it. Just let Him take you deeper.
Movement 3: He first loved us
Read
1 John 4:17-19, This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.
Reflect
If we have a relationship with God, then we do not need to fear the day of judgment. We have been saved from this punishment and can look forward to this day as the beginning of our face-to-face relationship with Jesus. This doesn’t mean we won’t experience fear, though. Fear often creeps in. When it does, we can combat this fear by focusing on God who is love. And He chose to love us first.
Pray
Thank God for what He has done for you. Thank Him for saving you from punishment. Thank Him for replacing fear with His love. Thank Him for choosing to love you.