“This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins…God is Love.” (I John 4:10,16b)
In 1967, the Beatles released the song, “All You Need Is Love”. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were trying “to express the importance to empathize with the suffering and misfortunes of others, we need to feel what they’re going through.” These are good and well-intended sentiments, but love is so much more than empathy and feelings.
From our key passage, John wrote that “God is Love”. What does this mean? Before the previous statement of God being love, he wrote, “God loved us and sent His Son….” The apostle Paul wrote, “God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Yes, God is empathetic and feeling, but beyond these emotions, God is active! He was moved to action upon seeing the situation that his creation, especially man was experiencing …lost in sin.
There is an important point to keep in mind. Whenever God’s love is mentioned, it is accompanied by an action. Adam and Eve, God killed animals and made them garments. The world-wide flood, God saved Noah and his family through the ark. The Israelite people crying out to God from Egypt, God saved them through the plagues and the crossing of the Red Sea. We could go through the judges, the kings, and the prophets until the birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus to show how God showed His love through His actions. Don’t even get me started!
This ultimate action of God’s love through the sending of His Son, Jesus emphasizes once again God’s active love for us. As the hymn “It is Well with My Soul” states, Jesus saw “our helpless estate and shed His own blood for my soul.” Wow, God’s Love = Action!
Although Mr. Lennon and Mr. McCartney attempted to describe what love is, they missed the whole point. GOD IS LOVE! and He showed His love toward us by sending His Son, Jesus, to die and redeem all of mankind.
Until Next Month,
Bro. Lyle