Readings for today, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John
I recently had a friend tell me they weren’t sure they’d ever find true happiness. It’s heartbreaking because this is someone who seemingly has it all. They have a loving spouse. Great kids. They live in an affluent community that is safe and well-established. They have lots of good friends. What are they missing? They are missing Jesus. My friend abandoned the faith years ago due to significant frustration and disappointment with some fellow Christians. It was so sad to watch. We dialogued several times as I tried to help my friend process their pain but sadly, I wasn’t able to help heal the wounds they had suffered at the hands of fellow believers. I know my friend’s journey isn’t over and I believe with all my heart that God is faithful but my friend seems very far from God at this point and I can only pray for the Holy Spirit to draw them back to faith.
This is why the Apostle John is so serious about love. His letters are full of love. He defines love. Encourages love. Challenges his fellow believers to live lives overflowing with love. Love for God. Love for each other. Love for the lost. John knows love is the antidote to fear and anxiety. Love is the healing balm for all our pain and suffering. Love is firm foundation for all relationships. Love is the answer to all our deepest questions. And just to be clear, John isn’t talking about a feeling when he talks about love. He’s talking about an action. He’s talking about God sending His only Son into the world to lay His life down as a sacrifice for our sins. That’s true love. And true love is what leads to true life. And true life is what leads to true happiness. To reject God’s love is to reject life. To reject God’s life is to reject happiness and joy and peace for these things are the byproduct of the experience of God’s love.
Listen to how John describes it again, “My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.” (1 John 4:7-10 MSG) Do you see how differently John defines love? The world defines love as an attraction. A fleeting emotion. Something you can fall in or out of randomly or even quickly. John defines love as an eternal sacrifice. An unbreakable and unshakeable commitment. One worth dying for. Is this how you understand love?
Readings for tomorrow: Revelation 1-5