I was reading 1 John 4 this morning and it says that God is love. When I hear people say that I am not very loving to me it says I am not reflecting God. I take these comments and evaluate why I am the way I am. Taking the human definition of love I can look at love as a feeling or act of kindness, an ability to accept people as they are and let them live their life how they please without ever telling them they are heading in a way that is not good. By the worlds standard I should'nt even have the thought that anything could be wrong as this would be judging them.
Well it says God is love and that is where I need to gain a deeper understanding of who God is and what are his attributes. If God is love in order to really love people I need to reflect God in all things so I don't come across as un loving.
Here is what the Bible says love is:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
WOW!!!! I cannot even come close to doing that. I cannot love from a human perspective or Gods. How then can I say I am a christian when the greatest of the commandments is to love and in no way can I live up to this?
Well lets go back to 1John and it tells me that anyone who lives in love lives in God and God in him. I cannot do it so I can rest in the fact the only way I can love is because he loved me first and only he can love. That is why it is such an honor that he gave me his word (the Bible) that reveals to me who he is and it transforms me into his likeness. It is a living word that God has promised will not come back void. I can hit a dry spell now and then but it does not stop the word from working. I hate conviction but it produces repentance in me that draws me away from my self seeking ways and back to the source of my existince.The next time you hear me say I have been too busy to read the Bible kick me in the pants because that would be truly loving me.
It is not enough to follow “god.” That word has come to mean so many different things today that it actually means very little. If we just make up our own minds concerning what He is like, then we are just creating an idol in our heads. What does it mean to follow Jesus? The bible is where we come to know who God is. It is how God speaks to us. If I am going to follow God I need to be reading what he is saying and doing what it says. I will fall but he will pick me up I can rest in his promises and his grace for without it I would have no hope.
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