Producing the Fruit of God's Love

Loving like Jesus is not easy. Learning to love and modeling love is the challenge of every follower of Jesus. Some people put a lot of emphasis on the social aspects of love, while others emphasize the personal aspects.

Loving like Jesus is not easy. In the midst of our cultural wars, we have made enemies out of the people who disagree with us. We have used the words of Jesus as instruments of pain and separation instead of instruments of agape and reconciliation. Jesus says that the mark of true discipleship is seen in how we love one another.

Am I missing something when I think that Jesus meant for us to work on bringing people together instead of separating people. As followers of Jesus, the challenge is to love others as Jesus has loved us. Is it possible to love as Jesus loves in the world in which we live?

What would happen if we began to see each person we meet as someone God loves and is longing to be loved?

Let’s use the pattern of Read, Reflect, Respond, Return as a tool to learn more about loving as Jesus loves.

Read 1 John 4:7-21

⁷Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. ⁸The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him. ¹⁰This is love: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins.

¹¹Dear friends, if God loved us this way, we also ought to love each other. ¹²No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God remains in us and his love is made perfect in us. ¹³This is how we know we remain in him and he remains in us, because he has given us a measure of his Spirit. ¹⁴We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the savior of the world. ¹⁵If any of us confess that Jesus is God’s Son, God remains in us and we remain in God. ¹⁶We have known and have believed the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who remain in love remain in God and God remains in them. ¹⁷This is how love has been perfected in us, so that we can have confidence on the Judgment Day, because we are exactly the same as God is in this world. ¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear expects punishment. The person who is afraid has not been made perfect in love. ¹⁹We love because God first loved us. ²⁰Those who say, “I love God” and hate their brothers or sisters are liars. After all, those who don’t love their brothers or sisters whom they have seen can hardly love God whom they have not seen! ²¹This commandment we have from him: Those who claim to love God ought to love their brother and sister also.

Reflect on 1 John 4:7-21

When John writes “God is love,” he is letting us know that love is the character and nature of God. He writes that we see and experience God’s love in Jesus. Because we have experienced God, then we are free to love one another. The evidence that we know God and God’s love is seen in the way we love others.

John also explains that perfect love drives out fear. So, those of us who abide in God’s love can face loving others with confidence because we live in a relationship with God.

Then John gives us a practical test of our faith. He writes that the one who does not love does not know God. It is impossible to love God while not loving our sisters and brothers. Your love for God and your love for others is inseparable.

To love God means you love your neighbor, your family, the stranger, those with whom you agree, those with whom you disagree, and even those you consider your enemy. You love who God loves…and that is everyone.

For John, God’s love is the source, model, and motivation for those of us who follow Jesus. Our faith is demonstrated by loving others as God has first loved us.

Respond to 1 John 4:7-21

John writes, “We love because he first loved us.” The Christian life is not about trying harder to be loving; it is about staying connected to God who is love. We reflect the love of God that shines into us and through us. When we receive God’s love, we naturally reflect it to others, and the darkness begins to give way to light.

God’s love is the source, and our love is the reflection.

Maybe you can think of it this way. A little girl received a small mirror for her birthday. One afternoon, she took it outside and noticed that when she tilted it toward the sun, the mirror reflected a bright beam of light. She discovered that she could direct the light into all directions, especially under bushes and into places where there were shadows.

Her grandfather watched for a while and then asked, “Where does the light come from?”

She smiled and said, “From my mirror.”

He replied, “Well, not really. The mirror doesn’t make the light. It simply reflects the light.”