"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him." 1 John 3:1
John is known as the apostle of love, simply because he talks so much about it. John was also known as the disciple that Jesus loved. One thing about the love of God, it's contagious. When we are infected with it we tend to pass it along.
John was writing to the church near the end of the first century and Christianity had been around now for nearly 60 years. False teachings and doubts about Jesus were beginning to take a toll on the faith of the church and John hits that head on. His gospel proclaims the divinity and Lordship of Jesus much more than the others. But he also stresses the need to not just believe in Jesus as the Son of God, but the need to live that belief. Nowhere is our relationship with Christ more evident than in how and who we love.
It was the love of the early church as much as the doctrine that stood out to the world around them. For some that love was a light leading them not only to the church, but to Christ. For others it was a reason to hate them all the more, just as the world had hated Jesus. When we love as Christ loved we will reach some and we will offend some. We aren't to be in a popularity contest with the world. To win that is to lose something even more precious. We are to pass along, what God shared with us, his love in the form of his son. When we share Jesus with others we are sharing God's love, his greatest gift. But, hey, love is contagious.
John is known as the apostle of love, simply because he talks so much about it. John was also known as the disciple that Jesus loved. One thing about the love of God, it's contagious. When we are infected with it we tend to pass it along.
John was writing to the church near the end of the first century and Christianity had been around now for nearly 60 years. False teachings and doubts about Jesus were beginning to take a toll on the faith of the church and John hits that head on. His gospel proclaims the divinity and Lordship of Jesus much more than the others. But he also stresses the need to not just believe in Jesus as the Son of God, but the need to live that belief. Nowhere is our relationship with Christ more evident than in how and who we love.
It was the love of the early church as much as the doctrine that stood out to the world around them. For some that love was a light leading them not only to the church, but to Christ. For others it was a reason to hate them all the more, just as the world had hated Jesus. When we love as Christ loved we will reach some and we will offend some. We aren't to be in a popularity contest with the world. To win that is to lose something even more precious. We are to pass along, what God shared with us, his love in the form of his son. When we share Jesus with others we are sharing God's love, his greatest gift. But, hey, love is contagious.
RSS Feed
