Love 1

1 John 4:15-16

If you take a glass of water and put a stone in that water, the water remains the water it was. The stone may take up some room for awhile but you can remove the stone and the water is relatively unchanged.

If you add food coloring to the water the water becomes that color and the dye becomes part of that water. They are inseparable at that point. The two have become one, a new thing.

That is similar to what John is talking about when he talks about us loving in faith. What happens when we acknowledge or confess that Jesus is the Son of God? What can we rely on? How is God described? How do we live in God?

Many people can claim to be believers in God. Many people can claim they have accepted Jesus as their Lord. But if they do not live in the love of God then they are like the water with a stone placed in it.

They are unchanged. They may be affected slightly by the presence of God but they remain who they were at the outset.

To truly believe in Jesus is to make Jesus part of who you are. It is to allow yourself to be changed by the presence of Jesus. That change comes when you begin to live in the love of God. You change when you begin loving others in the faith that you have in Christ.

If we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and we invest ourselves in our faith, then the result of faith is that we will start living our faith. And part of living that faith is loving in the same way that Jesus has loved. We must allow Jesus to change our attitude and our hearts so that we can care for other people in the way Jesus does. This means that we must be changed into the truly faithful who express God’s love in the way we act toward others.

We must truly believe that God is love, and when we live in God making Him part of who we are we can love as God loves with a sincere and caring heart.

DAILY CHALLENGE: What must change in you to live in the love of God?