Complete

DEVOTION 1 JOHN COMPETE 1 John 4:7-12 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. NIV One again this gives us a lot to think about, to ponder on, even though we are getting it over again about this loving one another. Coming back to what kind of attitude we have about one another, whether we actually can say that we love you, and mean it deep down within, because we desire more for the other person than for ourselves. God desires more for us, he desires the best for us, eternal life. God desires that we have the very best, that is why he sent his son to die for us, that we might live rather than die. Should we not desire the very best for our fellow believers? Is that not the perfect expression of love? If we have any kind of negative attitude about any other believer than we have to admit that we are not loving them, and isn’t that sin? If we were to use the description of what love is from the letter to the Corinthians than we need to really examine our attitudes to see if we are lining up with how God desires we love each other. Are we patient with each other? Are we always kind to each other? Do we ever envy each other? Are we boastful, always talking about our own exploits, our own plans, our own life, and never listening to the others? Do we consider ourselves any better than any other, being a better Christian than the other? Or do we think of ourselves as more intelligent, that we know more about scripture, or that we have a bigger house, better car? This could apply if we have an attitude about what others have, a smaller house, an older car, not so nice clothes, less money, whatever, are we being prideful? Have we ever ignored another believer? Isn’t that being rude? Have we ever thought about our own needs before thinking about their needs? Isn’t that self-seeking? Have we ever had an attitude of being upset, hurt, or actually angry because of something another has said or done? And oh yes, we sure have never kept any kind of record of what someone has done wrong. We just keep it buried deep down so we might bring it up later when it serves our own purpose. Is that love? Do we ever get an attitude of superiority when we see another fail, falling short, actually sinning, because we think we do not sin anymore? Is that not delighting in evil, rather than rejoicing in the truth? Do we always have an attitude of protecting others, always trusting them, always hoping for the best in them, and having an attitude of preserving our love for them, no matter what? A lot to ponder on, to consider, to apply to our lives. How else could our love be complete?