How His love is perfected in us.

^ee23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. ²⁴ The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.  (1 John 3)

We were sitting around the Easter Table at Bruce’s Parents yesterday.  The subject came up about how people treat each other in the Body of Christ sometimes.  Bruce’s Dad said, “If people acted at their jobs or in their places of business, the way they act at Church Meetings sometimes, they wouldn’t have jobs.  I had to agree that was so true.  Some of the ugliest behavior I have ever known or seen has been between brothers and sisters in Christ.    But to be fair, some of the most beautiful treatment of other people has been found there too.  Why is this?  Some of it is people are young in Christ and haven’t learned enough about loving one another.   Some of it is that we all have areas of sensitivity that make us “react” when those areas are triggered.  But some of it is just plain pride.    Pride is the Original Sin.  It caused the Fall of Eve and Adam in the Garden.  Satan was cast out of heaven due to pride, and look how the world has suffered due to that sin.  When we look at what Jesus suffered in order to save us from our sins, why do we sin so heinously against one another.  Jesus suffered to give us the power to forgive and to love one another.  The Cross isn’t just about being forgiven, it is about forgiving One Another as He has forgiven us.

God Is Love ( 1 John 4)

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  Our love for one another is  litmus test, the Positive result  of our love for each other is a sign that we have been Born Again to His New Life.

⁹ By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.    We have seen love, experienced true Love through Jesus, and what He asks of us is that we turn and do the same for one another.

¹² No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. The world is watching us.  New Believers are watching how we treat one another.  What they see can be either exalting or detrimental to their faith.  If you want God’s love perfected in you, you need to practice loving others.  One of My Former Pastors modeled this for me, and I have seen it lived out in my own home by my precious Bruce.  God is transforming me continually as I practice loving others.

¹³ By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴ We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.  I don’t struggle with assurance of Salvation  anymore.  I think the greatest reason is that I am learning to deeply Love Christ’s Body, His Bride.  God shows us that this is how His love is perfected in us, by turning and loving one another as He has loved us.  One of the most Beautiful Sights ever beheld, is the Empty Tomb.  His Resurrection conquered sin in us and now we have the power and the call to Love One Another.