Jesus Lived Out Love
Friday’s Verse:
From 1 John 4:20 ESV
“If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
John doesn’t mince words. He drives this point home. If we say we love God, yet refuse to love our neighbors—the people around us—then something is terribly askew.
Oh, it’s easy enough to love God in theory. We sing songs about it. We say it in our prayers. We recite it in the Creed. But the true test of our love comes on a typical Tuesday morning—in how we talk to our spouse, how we interact with a coworker, how we think about that neighbor who bugs us. The brother or sister whom we can see becomes the lens through which we understand what is going on in our hearts toward the God we cannot see.
At this point, you may be thinking Lutheran thoughts. Let me stop you right there. This verse does not mean our love causes God to love us in return. Scripture makes it abundantly clear that “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). God always loves us first. Through Christ’s death and resurrection. Through Word and Sacrament. Love is always the gift God gives us.
But it is still a gift that moves us. Faith does not remain by itself. It is active. As Luther often put it, faith works. When the Holy Spirit works faith within us, He also begins to work on the rest of our lives. Love of neighbor proceeds from our trust in Christ just like healthy fruit comes from a healthy tree.
So when we sin by not loving others, verses like this one confront us. It reveals our self-righteousness, our bitterness, our indifference. It drives us to repent of our sin. “We have not loved God with all of our heart and our neighbors as ourselves.” And there, on the foot of the cross, we find grace.
Jesus did more than just talk about love. He lived it out. In the stress of a human body. He loved His enemies. He prayed for those who crucified Him. He gave Himself up for sinful people like us. His love is tangible. Visible. And costly.
His love now flows through us into simple, mundane acts: kindness instead of sarcasm. Forgiveness instead of retaliation. Service instead of ignoring. Not to try to prove ourselves to God. Not to earn our salvation. But because we are already His.
✝️ A Prayer for Today:
Lord Jesus Christ,, You have loved me when I was hateful. Forgive my stubborn heart and secret resentments. Fill me with Your Spirit so that I can love those You have placed in my life. Let my love for my neighbor reflect the faith You have given me. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
The photo above is licensed through Unsplash+