July 15, 2024 WE HAVE COME TO KNOW
1 John 10-16 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him, and he in God. And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him.”
The book of 1 John is about the love of God-and there is much to glean from that book. Certainly, the love that God has for his children is paramount. But as much as could be said about the love of God, today, let us focus on just five words. These five words speak volumes. John declares “we have come to know” the love that God had for them-and for us. Here is why these words demand our attention: for many years one can be fully convinced in their minds that God loves them-BUT then one day, they experience the love of God and His love becomes not just something they ‘believe,’ but something that changes them, that becomes real in their spirit. Obviously, we do not come to know His love by our own effort-it requires God revealing His love. Here is my problem; I don’t know exactly what one can do to truly experience the love of God in such a life-changing way. Is it solely up to God to reveal His love-do we just sit in our rocking chair waiting for Him to reveal His love? If God is, and He is, the revealer, then what if any is our part. Here is my belief and my answer to this seemingly dilemma. I believe that God is always drawing us to Himself and I believe that we can turn our hearts to Him and we can do so because He is drawing us to Him. We cannot take credit for turning our hearts to Him; man on His own cannot find God-so our part is to respond to His drawing. Here is what I believe about coming to know the love of God: when we turn our hearts to the Lord; when read His word with a desire to learn of Him; when we begin to learn of our identity in Him; when we truly embrace His word without reservation; and when we begin to act on His word-do what it says, we become good candidates for receiving revelation from God-the revealing of the love of God for us personally. There is no formula or ten easy steps to truly know and experience the love of God. Believing with our minds that God loves us is a good starting point; but there is more. One cannot experience the love of God without being changed. It is the Holy Spirit in us who reveals the love of God. One evidence that we have come to know the love of God is that we love one another-with the 1 Corinthians 13 type of love; not a superficial love, but the love that comes from God’s love in us.
Ephesians 3:17-19 “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God.”
Blessings, Buddy
1 John 10-16 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him, and he in God. And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him.”
The book of 1 John is about the love of God-and there is much to glean from that book. Certainly, the love that God has for his children is paramount. But as much as could be said about the love of God, today, let us focus on just five words. These five words speak volumes. John declares “we have come to know” the love that God had for them-and for us. Here is why these words demand our attention: for many years one can be fully convinced in their minds that God loves them-BUT then one day, they experience the love of God and His love becomes not just something they ‘believe,’ but something that changes them, that becomes real in their spirit. Obviously, we do not come to know His love by our own effort-it requires God revealing His love. Here is my problem; I don’t know exactly what one can do to truly experience the love of God in such a life-changing way. Is it solely up to God to reveal His love-do we just sit in our rocking chair waiting for Him to reveal His love? If God is, and He is, the revealer, then what if any is our part. Here is my belief and my answer to this seemingly dilemma. I believe that God is always drawing us to Himself and I believe that we can turn our hearts to Him and we can do so because He is drawing us to Him. We cannot take credit for turning our hearts to Him; man on His own cannot find God-so our part is to respond to His drawing. Here is what I believe about coming to know the love of God: when we turn our hearts to the Lord; when read His word with a desire to learn of Him; when we begin to learn of our identity in Him; when we truly embrace His word without reservation; and when we begin to act on His word-do what it says, we become good candidates for receiving revelation from God-the revealing of the love of God for us personally. There is no formula or ten easy steps to truly know and experience the love of God. Believing with our minds that God loves us is a good starting point; but there is more. One cannot experience the love of God without being changed. It is the Holy Spirit in us who reveals the love of God. One evidence that we have come to know the love of God is that we love one another-with the 1 Corinthians 13 type of love; not a superficial love, but the love that comes from God’s love in us.
Ephesians 3:17-19 “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God.”
Blessings, Buddy
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