And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.—1 John 4:21
This verse summarizes what John has been discussing in verses 7-21. Those who are born again have received God’s nature. Because God IS love, as His child, our lives will reflect this love to others. Per John MacArthur, the original language in 4:7 conveys the idea that those who are born again “will exhibit the characteristic habit of love.” I want this habit of love in my life. Reading this verse in the Amplified Bible helped me.
And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should also [unselfishly] love his brother and seek the best for him.—1 John 4:21
Now the word love is used so lightly today that it has kind of become meaningless to me. I needed more. The Amplified delivered. How do I love as God loves? I unselfishly seek the best for them. THAT is a short, succinct and powerful description of true biblical love. Love does not seek its own...that helps me “see” it. That leaves me no wiggle room. As a fallen human being, I KNOW that my first thought in the morning is me as is my last thought before I sleep. I am filled with selfish ambition. I desperately need the Spirit of God’s to help me think on others...to put their needs above my own. Biblical love, as I said in my post yesterday, is always an action. It gives sacrificially.
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.—Romans 5:6-8
