God is love.

Lets start the week off with some good news.



1 John 4:7-8



7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.



Look at these verses backwards. Starting with the the last words. "For God is love." Take a moment just to think about that. Love is defined by God...He is the definition of love and Christ has set the example for us. Jesus loved others in their sin and after they had repented of their sins. That is to be the way we love also! Then the next part of verse 8 says if we do not love we do not love God! Wow. Now it would be easy to say well I love but I just don't love everybody. No where in scripture is it taught we can pick....matter of fact Jesus says to love our enemies!



Now the last past of verse 7 says everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, so to truly love we must be born again or saved because Jesus makes it clear in scripture the only way to know God is to have trusted Jesus with our lives! So it is safe to say true love can not happen with out a relationship with Jesus. Then the first part of verse 7 tells us to love one another for love is of God. It is so hard to love others isn't it? We have our ways they have theirs and it is just hard to mesh. The problem lies in each of us. But we have the solution....God. God is love and if we put our strength and trust in Him we can love anyone even those who seem unlovable to us!



So this morning remember God is love and he loves you so much and He expects us to show love to others!



Tom