“No man hath
seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love
is perfected in us.”—1 John 4:12
I read a story one time that has had a profound
impact on my life. The story went
something like this: Many years ago that a pastor announced to his congregation
that he would be preaching the following Sunday evening on the topic, “The Love
of God.” And when Sunday evening
arrived, the congregation gathered to hear the message. It was getting dark so the pastor quietly lit
a candle and held it up to the crucifix that stood beside the altar. Without saying a single word, he held the
candle up and illuminated the crown of thorns that adorned the head of
Jesus. He, then, lowered the candle to
the two wounded hands, and then to the wound in His side. As the congregation watched in silence, he
blew out the candle and left the sanctuary.
There was nothing else to say.
This story reminds us that love is the core value
of the Christian faith and that God loves us. As the author of first John
proclaims to us, “In this is love, not that we loved God but he loved us.” He
even declares to us that God is love (vs.8).
We know that God is love because we have looked
into the tomb and we have seen that it is empty. Jesus became the sacrifice for our sins. He is
the revelation of God’s endless love and commitment to us.
That is the good news that we offer to a
love-starved world. Even as we long for God, God longs for us. And that longing
that we share comes together in Jesus. But
there’s more to love than just being loved. “Beloved, since God loved us so
much, we also ought to love one another. If we love one another, God lives in us.” Love shapes what we do as people of God
because God is at work in us.
What we learn from scripture is that we are called
to act on the love that we receive. Acting
out our love for one another is something that we learn from how God has acted
out his love for us. God’s love for us resulted in his coming to us. The
sacrifice made for us on the cross grew out of God’s relentless, and
unyielding, and grace-driven love. God’s love for us is so fervent that he
could not leave us as we were, lost in sin and unable to undo the stain that
clings to us. Out of love, Jesus acted.
Out of love, Jesus paid the price for our sin so that we could be united to God.
All life is precious because God lives in us. All
life is precious because God’s love is perfected in each and every one of us.
Our world would understand this love so much
better if every once in a while we simply gathered together, lit a candle, and
like that pastor so long ago, just held it up to the cross and saw for
ourselves how God chose to love us. God’s love is about sacrifice, and that
love is made perfect in us through his sacrifice on the cross.
Prayer—Father I thank You that the
tomb of Christ is empty and that Your love dwells in me because of the
sacrifice of Christ. Today I purpose in
my heart to lay down my life for my neighbor thereby demonstrating that your
love is perfected in me, in Jesus Name.
Amen.
