“This is how we know that we live in Him and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” 1 John 4:13-16
As I have been discipled over the past few years, I have been encouraged to frequently look back to the cross. There is so much depth to scripture and endless ways in which the Lord can be leading and teaching each of us, but it is so important that we take these things back to the cross of Christ, the centerpiece of faith; the source of life and power.
Without Christ love is limited, peace is unavailable, and the experience of true joy is out of reach. But when brought in contact with the cross, with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, everything comes to life. Love is undefinable, peace surpasses our understanding, and joy becomes inexplicable.
This applies to every single takeaway from scripture. Without the cross, our faith is lifeless and our studies are worthless.
In the book of 1 John, the author holds love up to the cross for us!
Early on in my walk of faith, if someone were to ask me to connect love and the cross, I may have been able to quote the billboards lining the highway, ”For God loved the world…” (John 3:16) in response, but I was missing so much of the beautiful intricacy between love and the cross.
Throughout chapter 3 and 4, John so clearly links love to the cross.
This is a compilation of statements within this passage. God is love. God sent His Son to be Savior of the world. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. This is how we know that He lives in us: We know by the Spirit He gave us. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
In love, God sent His Son to the cross, that we may enter into a relationship with Him through the acceptance of His death, burial and resurrection. Upon this acceptance of Jesus as Lord of our lives, surrendering ourselves and placing Him at the center of our lives, we receive the Holy Spirit. This Spirit is evidence of God in us, of love in us and it is through this Spirit that we can continuously pour love on others as we are constantly lavished by the love of God. The source of love is within us.
Love, without the cross, is empty…Without the cross, we have no access to God. We are unable to receive the Spirit of God and we are limited to the worldly love defined by feelings. We would be void of His great love.
BUT WE AREN’T! The fullness of love is available to us and through us!
I want to encourage you to read through 1 John and let the Word speak to you personally.
Take love back to the cross today. There is power and life in the love of God, and you and I, as children of God are not only recipients of this unfathomable, unending love, but we get to pass it along through every interaction and opportunity.
