1 John 5:1-5
Verse 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His commands.
We may think that as long as we are being nice to fellow Christians we are loving them, but John makes the point what truly loving other believers looks like. It is by loving God and living by His commands. This may seem strange to us until we remember that commandments 5-10 are about our loving God through loving other people.
Of course we can’t love them in the fullness He commands us to if we don’t love Him in the way He commands in the first 4. If we don’t love Him by having no other gods in our lives, we can’t really say we love Him. He must be our one and only God or He isn’t our God at all. If He is our God then we shouldn’t be making gods of things which can’t breathe, talk or think.
The people of God have struggled since the beginning of time to make Him their first and best priority. They fought at every turn in history to focus on the God they couldn’t see. When they saw their neighbors worshiping their handheld idols or going to the statues and poles representing their gods they wanted that too and since it was an image they could see, they would wander from the God who had rescued them from Egypt.
Another way God’s people have been unloving to Him over the centuries is how they use and represent His name. We tend to think of this as using His name as a swear word but it is more than that. Yes, over the generations His name has been used to take oaths by people who have no intention of honoring their vow – think of all the marriages performed as a covenant with God which ended in divorce. There is also the form of misusing His name by calling ourselves Christians and then not living as He has called us to live. We mock His name more than we revere it.
The last of the 4 may be the one we ignore the most. When we truly love someone we enjoy spending time with them, sometimes just enjoying their company in a low key way. So why is it when it comes to taking a day of rest to focus on Him we struggle to make Him our focus? We may make it to church for a service but our thoughts may not be focused on Him as we are ready to have the fun we planned for the day. To truly love others we need to love Him as He has commanded.
Making It Personal
Could your struggle with loving others stem from not loving Him as you should? Which of these areas is the hardest for you to love Him? What choices can you make to change that?
Making It Personal Kids
How can you love God in the way He wants to be loved? Are any of those ways hard? How can loving God in those ways help you love others?
Closing Prayer
Father, we confess not loving You as You have commanded. Help us learn to love You so we can love others as You have commanded us to. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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