Why do we love?

“We love because he first loved us.”1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This chapter deals with love: why we love and how it is evident in us. John knew how to love, and yet Jesus called he and his brother James ‘sons of thunder’. They were quick to want to rain judgement down on a city that rejected Jesus. There must have been many more incidents, they had also asked that in heaven they be seated on Jesus’ right and left.’ They were bold boys. However, John saw in Jesus what He wanted and he loved Him. The gospel of John reveals the love of Jesus. John caught that, and now in this epistle teaches that love. 

In verse 20 John states that whoever does not love his brother or sister does not love God, for God is love and if we are in Him then we are in His love. He had learned something.

I have been quick to want to deal the paddle to a brother or sister. Usually out of personal frustration. My frustration has to do with my inability to love in a given situation and I therefore need to find God’s love. He is the judge, not me.

Read the whole chapter and let it minister to you. We are called to live in love, what a wonderful place to be. Find it, stay there! Amen!