Mar 23 - God Loves

Read 1 John 3:1-3 and 1 John 4:7-12

Context: 1 John was written by John the apostle (son of Zebedee). He wrote to believers to expose false teachers and to give believers the assurance of salvation. In the process he gives us a wonderful picture of God's love.

Text:
1John 3:1-3 1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,[a]we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. (NIV)
Footnotes:
1 John 3:2 Or when it is made known
1 John 4:7-12 7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son[a] into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for[b] our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (NIV)
Footnotes:
1 John 4:9 Or his only begotten Son
1 John 4:10 Or as the one who would turn aside his wrath, taking away

taken from www.biblegateway.com

While we cannot comprehend God's love, he gives us experiences here on earth that offer a glimpse into the strength of his love.

When Doug and I were in the process of adopting our boys, we found out that both boys had severe asthma. We had to get them up every 2-3 hours around the clock to give them treatments, and we learned a lot of new medical terminologies and procedures we didn't know existed. About two weeks into this new adventure, we realized that we had never once stopped and said, "this isn't what we signed up for." We were treating these boys just as if they had always been our own, doing whatever was necessary for their well-being just as we would have done for our biological children. I had a new understanding for the love God shows us as his adopted children.

The reason we can love each other is because God first loves us...whether we realize it or not!