What is love? God didn’t just TELL us He loved us- He showed us by giving His Son! If we are God’s kids – we can’t help but love. Love means giving personally and preciously. You don’t express love with a clinched fist. Love is practical – actions and words. Works, not words are the proof of love.
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:16-18 NIV
You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 1 John 4:9-10 NLT
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. 18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19 We love each other because he loved us first. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 21 And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters. 1 John 4:16-21 NLT
The Results of Knowing & Relying & Living in God’s Love:
#1 God’s love gives confidence. (1 John 4:17)
#2 God’s love eliminates fear and insecurity. (1 John 4:18)
#3 God’s love was GIVEN First – seed faith. (1 John 4:19)
#4 God’s love is a proof we really love God. (1 John 4:20)
#5 God’s love carries the responsibility to live it out. (1 John 4:21)
