it's all about love

It's all about love.

John lays it on the line – we are to be people who love.

Do we?

Is that what people automatically think when they think of Christians in our world of the second decade of the 21^st century?

I think we know the answers to both those questions.

But it doesn't rule out or undermine the truth of what John worte.

It's all about love.

1 John 4

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another,

for love comes from God.

Anyone who loves is a child of God

and knows God.

8 But anyone who does not love does not know God,

for God is love.

  9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world

so that we might have eternal life through him.

10 This is real love;

not that we loved God,

but that he loved us

and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

  11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much,

we surely ought to love each other.

12 No one has ever seen God.

But if we love each other,

God lives in us,

and his love is brought to full expression in us.

  13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him

and he in us.

14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes

and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them,

and they live in God.

16 We know how much God loves us,

and we have put our trust in his love.

  God is love,

and all who live in love live in God,

and God lives in them.

17 And as we live in God,

our love grows more perfect.

So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment,

but we can face him with confidence

because we live like Jesus here in this world.

  18 Such love has no fear,

because perfect love expels all fear.

If we are afraid,

it is for fear of punishment,

and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

19 We love each other

because he loved us first.

  20 If someone says, "I love God," but hates a Christian brother or sister,

that person is a liar;

for if we don't love people we can see,

how can we love God,

whom we cannot see?

21 And he has given us this command:

Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.