Amazing Indwelling Love
“All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God our love grows more perfect.” 1 John 4:15-17a
God Is Love
While it is true to say that “God loves me” we might be tempted to reduce love to an emotional response that God has toward the people he created, rather than an integral part of his being. God does not just love – He IS love. He cannot not love. He cannot be separated from himself!
Loving Others
The way that this works itself out is that since God is love and he mysteriously lives in me; if I do not love others, then I am disconnected from God – from the presence of Love in me.
“Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.” 1 John 4:11, 12
Now, people are not always lovable – neither am I.
I know that from my own natural self it is not possible to love others – not sacrificially – and certainly not my enemies. This seems impossible – and unnatural – and it is.
It is, however, supernatural and divine! Thus, the essential truth is that these things are only possible through Christ in me.
God’s ultimate expression of Love is Jesus, and when we respond to God’s love expressed in Jesus, His love lives in us and is brought to full expression.
Now, I will be the first to admit that I am not filled to the fullness of God and I can prove it by how much love is in me for others – more than before, but definitely less than there should be.
This distresses me and almost stops me in my tracks. I am tempted to hit delete and admit defeat. Who am I to even write about loving others? The enemy of my soul accuses me at this moment, and he is right…and he is wrong.
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