We Know And Rely On The Love God

Has For Us

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

1 John 4:7-16

The Aran Islands, off the west coast of Ireland, are known for their beautiful sweaters. Patterns are woven into the fabric of the sweaters using sheep’s wool to craft the fabrics.

Each family on the island has its own trademark. It is said that if anyone was swept overboard, people would know what family they came from because of the family emblem on their sweaters.

The same is true of Christians. There are trademarks of Christians. We are all called Childen of God. Another is that we love one another. Another is that “everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”

Because “Love is of God” the chief way to reflect the heart of the Father is by displaying the love that characterizes Him, because love is one of our family trademarks.

Love is the family resemblance the world should see in followers of Christ.

Our Daily Bread – July 30, 2014