Ep 229 – 1 John 4:7-21 PT 5

This is our fifth episode on 1 John, chapter four, verses 7-21 and is entitled, "God Loved." The love of God is an oft misunderstood topic. Part of the problem is that we bring our own definitions of love to the equation, attempting to force on God our preconceived notions of what it means to show and receive love. But the Bible tells us that God is love. In other words, it is God who gets to define love and it is His very nature that provides the meaning. If God is love, then all that He does is done in love. Love is the permeating quality behind all His actions, whether we see it or not. So, when God tells us to love one another as He has loved us, we need to stop and think about what He is saying. How did He love us? What was the primary way in which He expressed His love to us? God sent His Son to die for us. And while that may appear to us to be a strange way of expressing love, it does not change the fact love is exactly what it was. As John wrote in His gospel, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son."  God loved. Sacrificially. Selflessly. And redemptively.