Day 10 - 1 John 4:7-21 - God is Love

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 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. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

*********************************

I love doctrine.  I love to study doctrine.  I love all the –ologies:  theology, Christology, eschatology, ecclesiology, epistemology (all right, I must say I never really got that one).  Give me an -ology and I’m happy.  Now this is not wrong, it may seem strange to you, but it is not wrong.  However, I sometimes get the gnawing feeling that we may have made Christianity a little more complicated than it has to be.  That may be what is robbing the joy from these early Christians.  Some teachers have made Christianity a purely intellectual pursuit and if you don’t pass the test then you really aren’t a Christian.   Tests often produce fear and fear is the enemy of joy.

I suspect they are not the only ones living in fear.  Preachers may to be blame for this, but there are a lot of churchgoing folk trembling in their boots rather than dancing in their tap shoes.  A problem may be that we have made a knowledge of the –ologies a prerequisite for salvation.  John has this odd idea that Christians should have confidence on judgment day rather than test anxiety!

As we near the end of John’s brief letter, it has become clear to me that these are the things that  matter most to the beloved apostle:  faith in Jesus as the Son of God; confidence in my ability to overcome sin; a desire to live a holy life; and love for those around me expressed in actions.   Not an –ology in the bunch!

That is not to say that a deeper study of the –ologies cannot make us appreciate more who God is and provide us a better foundation upon which to build our spiritual lives (it has in my life), but, when it comes down to it, it’s not that complicated.  Even Jesus, when asked what he greatest commandment was, did not go on a theological rampage – and I’m sure he could have.  Instead Jesus boils down all the law and the prophets to loving God and loving others.  And it’s obvious, John was listening!