In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he
loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
You’ve probably have heard that you should love others.
But you may have wondered, what does that look like? What does it really mean
to love others, and what does it look like to love your enemy?
The answer to that question, is that love looks
different. It looks different than what you see on TV. It looks different than
what you hear in the hallways at school or work. True love, the way God meant
it, looks way different than the way we see it portrayed. Many times, the
definition of love on TV, school or work goes something like this: I’ll love
you if you can do something for me, or if you can give something to me.
However, this isn’t the meaning of loving others that the Bible describes.
This verse in 1 John describes love as something
different. It shows us that God defines love differently. God didn’t wait for
us to be able to give Him something for Him to love us. God loved us first. He
loved us and gave before we even knew Him. Then God challenges us to take the
love He gave to us and show that love to others.
Loving others isn’t based upon how others treat us. It’s
based on God’s love and grace which empowers us to then love others. We are to
love others and value them, not because they have done anything to deserve it,
but because it’s the example God showed us first.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer says it this way: “The Christian must
treat his enemy as a brother, and requite his hostility with love. His behavior
must be determined not by the way others treat him, but by the treatment he
himself receives from Jesus; it has only one source, and that is the will of
Jesus.”
So choose to love others. Treat them with respect and
love, not based on what they can do for you, or how they treat you, but rather
based on how God treated us!
Dear Lord, we thank You for Your love. Help us to use Your
example and treat them with respect and love not based on what they do for us.
In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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