How can we say that God's love abides in us?
"How can God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?" -- 1 John 3:17
One does not have to be a person of faith to recognize and appreciate the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself.” And according to the writer of 1 John, those of us who claim to be people of faith but do not love those whom God loves are deceiving ourselves.
The word love is often associated with how we feel about someone or some thing.
I love to wake up to a good cup of coffee each morning.
I love to get lost in a good book.
I love to watch a favorite movie that I haven’t seen in a long time on a rainy afternoon.
I love Rachel K’s Bakery —- the chocolate croissants, cinnamon rolls, scones, and did I mention the chocolate croissants? — oh my Lord!
Speaking of Rachel K’s, she gets it. Rachel gets what love, God-like love, really is. She is feeding hungry stomachs and hearts. She has created an environment that reflects the community (kononia) of God. Through the food pantry and on designated days, those without resources who need bread to nourish their bodies will also find the bread of dignity, welcome, hope, and love in and through the bakery. By loving God’s children, she is loving God.
In a short book of the Bible that reads a lot like a homily (short sermon), the writer of 1 John speaks over and over about the fundamental nature of God and, by extension, that which should characterize those who claim to be people of faith. In fact, there is not a single chapter that does not emphasize (not just mention) the centrality of love.
But the emphasis on love is not the touchy-feely kind of love. In fact, the writer makes a clear distinction between those who love God and those who do not, and John doesn’t seem interested in how people feel about it.
“If you claim to walk in the light and yet you do not have fellowship (community marked by agape love), you are deceiving yourself.” — 1 John 1:6-7
“Whoever hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness, but whoever loves their brothers and sisters lives in the light.” — 1 John 2:9-10
“How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” — 1 John 3:17
“Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” — 1 John 4:20
“For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments [to love one another].” — 1 John 5:3
For those of us who claim to love God, the season of Lent is a good time to consider the ways in which God is calling us to love others. And neither love nor hate is fundamentally about how we feel. We can feel warmly about those in need, but if we are not meeting those needs, we are not actually loving them.
Who has God called you to love in concrete ways? Who is hungry for a piece of bread that you can feed? Who is hungry for the bread of hope that you can comfort? Who is hungry for acceptance that you can embrace? Who is hungry for community that you can welcome?
“Let us love God, not with words and speech, but in action and in truth” — 1 John 3:18