Last week we talked about the need to let God in. John lets us know the benefits in letting God in, allows us to love one another. Why is this important, because love needs to be the driving force behind all we do. When we love one another, then we are letting each other know you matter to God. Because we made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Also, it becomes evident that God lives in us. When God lives in us, then His love is perfected in us, and we will accomplish things we did not know we were capable of doing. This week we will continue to look at God’s love for us, and what needs to take place for us to continue loving one another.  

In 1 John 4:17-21, when we look at these verses.   The first thing John talks about is God’s love has been perfected among us. He initially talks about boldness on the day of judgement. This is made possible through the actions of Jesus, because we are now following His lead and direction. Jesus executed His Father’s plan with boldness, knowing it would create an opportunity for us to be saved. And, it did, so we are to live in boldness. When the day of judgement comes we will be confident knowing we lived each day being guided by the Lord, and shared His love with others. Then John wants us to be on the lookout for fear, because it can become a stumbling block in our love being perfected. Therefore, we have to remind ourselves that God’s perfect love casts out fear. If you focus on fear then your thoughts wander to whether or not you have been forgiven of your sins. This is when you have to remind yourself the Lord has set you free, so there is no need for you to have any fear. This is an attempt of the enemy to make you think you don’t deserve to have your sins forgiven. If he gets your attention then you will not reach perfection in love. Continue to remind yourself you are loved, because God first loved you.

 Now, John is challenging all that say they love God. The evidence of your love for God is your ability to love your brothers and sisters who are before you. If you hate them, John says you are liars in saying you love God. Loving God means you love what God created, because we were created in the image of God. There is no way we can flourish in our ministry if we hate our brothers and sisters. We are unable to make an impact in growing the kingdom of God if we have hate toward one another. The commandment we have from God is, “those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” Let us all get on board with God’s commandment for the Church.  Do you have hate in your heart toward a brother or sister in Christ? I’m asking you to take it to the Lord in prayer, because this hate is blocking you from reaching perfection in your love. This was happening when John wrote this epistle and is still occurring. You know God hates sin, and we have all sinned, but God sent His Son to redeem us from a life of sin. God did not allow our sins against Him to stop Him from creating an opportunity to save us. God loves us, but hates the sins in our lives. So He looked past our sins and gave us a chance to make a change. His love for us is greater than His hate of our sins. Continue to walk in your blessings!