The Little Letters - Day 16

1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 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.
13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
There is a great deal of love that is mentioned in the texts above. And this is something that John leans into time and time again. John loves the idea of love, and he wants us to know how much God loves us. As well, he wants us to understand that love is something that we should aspire to above all else in our lives.

So maybe that is a good question for today. How do you love those around you? What place to you give to love in your life? Is it a high priority, or is it something on a long list of other things you have to do as well? Where does love rate in the checklist of your life?
 
John seems to be saying that if we love, we know God, but if we don’t, then we might not know God at all. Does this direct correlation seem a little too simplistic? It also seems that the love that God gave to us from his son was not something that was in response to our love for him, but was a preemptive love and sacrifice because God’s love for us is not contingent on our love for him.

John also likes using language of proximity. When John says that we are “In” God and God is “In” us, it means that we are that close to God to be as one. It means that we are asked into the relationship that is so close that our love reflects the love of Jesus in a beautiful and powerful way.
 
The theological word, that I seem to love, is Perichoresis. It is that language that speaks to how we are so close to be reflective of the trinity. It is a beautiful way that we understand how we are “in” Jesus and Jesus is “in” us.

I think sometimes we get too focused on the “where” of the “in”. It is not necessarily a residence of some part of God in us. Perhaps it is much more about the focus we place on our hearts and the way we put a priority on what Jesus wants for us and how we love others like he loves us. Rather than trying to figure out how the “in” works, it makes more sense for us to think about how we keep this relationship at the forefront of who we are.
 

1. How do you love others? 
2. Where is Love on your priority list of attributes? 
3. How does the love of God reside in you?