The King of Love Comes In
1 John 4:7-21
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit 15 "If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them."
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"
23 Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 "All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Footnotes:
a. John 14:17 Some early manuscripts and is
"Love is patient, love is kind... it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always per-severes."
(1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
Since God is love, we can put God in place of love in 1 Corinthians 13. Doing so corrects my thinking that He is waiting to pounce on me. His love on the cross means He actually delights in us. Jesus has taken all the punishment, and God's love never fails. These New Testament thoughts of God's love bring to mind an Old Testament Hebrew word, "hesed," meaning "steadfast" or "unfailing love." This love for a sinful people permeates the Old Testament and is personified in Jesus.
The first quality of love that our lives should show is patience. This is not grin-and-bear-it passivity. It's actively showing in our lives inward serenity whatever the provocation. This convicts me when I am irritable about not controlling things. Patience comes from the One who has shown such patience with me.
Also, if the King of love rules in my heart, how can I persist in unkindness? At times do I feel free to dislike someone who is not well-disposed to me? Our King did not take that view of us before we turned to Him.
INSIGHT
"The King of love my shepherd is, Whose goodness faileth never. I nothing lack if I am His, And He is mine forever."
(H.W. Baker, 1821-77)
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Daniel 5-6
Proverbs 7
Hebrews 9-10
1 John 4:7-21
God’s Love and Ours
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.
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