God Is Love

I provide what follows as a reminder that we Christians tend to forget the obvious or purposefully set it aside to foster our own interests be they nationalistic, political, religious or financial.  Our eyes are full of planks.

(begin) Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. 

In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. 

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit. 

Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world. Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. 

There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (end)

These passages are from the first letter of John.  If God is love, then God doesn’t exist for those who hate, kill, and destroy.  Russian leaders appear to be God-less, and their on-going, relentless destruction of Ukraine and its people testifies to that fact.  There are many other examples throughout the world where people do not love their brothers and sisters, and the result is death and destruction.

During Lent we should place more emphasis on 1 John.  If we say, “We love God,” but hate our brother or sister, we are liars; for whoever does not love a brother or sister whom we have seen cannot love God whom we have not seen.

Deacon David Pierce