See God in Love

Saturday night Rob Flood spoke to the Cross Culture Youth from 1 John 4:7-12. He brought out a very helpful perspective from verse 12: No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Here’s some of what Rob said,

“When Christ was here, God’s love was manifest through Him. He ascended and sent His Spirit, so now He lives in us. He abides in us. His love can be manifest though us. The love with which Christ loved is available to us now. With God Himself living in us, we are now the vehicles of God’s love to the world. He who lives in us loves through us.

By our loving one another, God is making the invisible God visible. God is love, and He manifests His love in us. The God who lives in us loves through us.

In his systematic theology, Robert Culver underscores this truth:

“Our love for God and other people is both evidence and fruit of God’s indwelling presence in us and is the means God uses to reveal His holiness and love to the world.” Robert Duncan Culver p.103

It’s not that Jesus loves us, so we have to love others. It is that we love others because God is in us…and God is love. God’s heart is to manifest Himself through His love…through us. We become an active player in the process of God being made manifest in the world.

He who lives in us loves through us. If His love is not coming through us, we must visit the first part…is He living in us? It is the very reason John said in verse 7, “whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” If the love of God flows through a man, then God lives in that man. If the love of God flows through a woman, then God lives in that woman. God’s love demands a way and manifests itself through how His people love one another.

So, that difficult person you work with…That family member who constantly rubs you the wrong way…That parent (or that child) that you’re certain won’t ever understand you…That friend who wronged you, and maybe doesn’t even know it…How do you love him? How do you love her?

First of all, understand and take comfort in the fact that you’re not in it alone. God is with you. But He’s not standing on the sideline like a coach hoping the players can pull it off this time. He’s not a cheering Dad in the crowd. He is there with you, empowering you, giving you the love you’ll need to carry out the call He’s placed on your life to love others.”

Why is this possible? Because of verse 10.

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.


You can listen to the entire message here in a few days.