For some “Who loves you most?” might be a difficult question to answer. When it comes to God, we don’t quite understand how loved we are, and therefore we don’t always experience God’s joy and peace.
In 1 John 4, we see God's love expressed to us, how deep that love is, and how He has called each of us to share that love with others.
1 John 4:9-12 NASB
9 By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.
Christmas is a reminder of God’s deep and everlasting love:
Personified
Put into practice
Love Personified
Referring to verse 9:
The religious leaders of Jesus’ time thought that when the Messiah would come, He would speak the word, wipe out all of His enemies, and put the world in order from sin, evil forces and impending doom. This was their picture of God and the way they understood the Scriptures.
But what was the almighty, infinite, all-wise God’s rescue plan for humanity? His strategy wasn’t to send the biggest and bravest, but
to send His only Son to the earth in the poorest of circumstances, to be born as a helpless baby, in a barn, and have a feeding trough as His first bed.
God’s plan also included having His angels announce the greatest news to people from the lowest station in society. These shepherds would be the eyewitnesses of the greatest event in human history.
Why do you think God would do all of this and in this particular way?
“It was because He didn’t come to condemn the world but that the world through Him would be saved. ”
The way He came to rescue us was a manifestation of His great love for us and to show us that He is not a respecter of persons. God is love, and made His love known and clear by coming into the world to live among us, by becoming one of us as a perfect human being.
Referring to verse 10:
Love is not to be understood in terms of our love for God but that He first loved us.
We see God’s love for us was not only supernatural, it was sacrificial. His rescue plan was to pay for the sins of the world as our atoning sacrifice so that we could be delivered from the stronghold of sin and placed into His Kingdom forever.
Jesus expressed His great love by laying down His life, which included not only enduring unimaginable heartache from His own people…
…but also dying a brutal death in our place so that we could be reconciled to God.
Put into Practice
For the Christian, who has God’s eternal life inside of him or her, who has been rescued from the kingdom of darkness and placed into His own Kingdom, it is almost as if that person possesses God’s DNA.
Those who have been born of God and are therefore children of God possess a supernatural, sacrificial love that He wants us to share with others.
Referring to verse 11:
The true meaning of Christmas is about comprehending and receiving God’s deep and abiding love that He has for you and responding to that love. But putting God’s love into practice is easier said than done and requires laying down our lives for others.
There are things in each of us that aren’t lovable. As we recognize more and more how undeserving we are of the love God lavished on us, and how much He loves us despite that - how much more should we love others He has put in our lives?
Who loves you most? The One who knows everything about you and yet will never leave you nor abandon you,
the One who walks with you no matter what your circumstances,
the One who has patiently waited for you to turn to Him.
He asks us to make His love real and tangible to others. What does sacrificial love look like in everyday life?
It not only means learning to endure frustrations, discomfort, tiredness, etc., but it also means being patient and kind, content, humble, and forgiving. It also means thinking the best, believing the best about people and not holding anything against another person who has wronged you (1Cor 13).
It means loving and encouraging others who are just as weak, frail, and imperfect as you are.
Referring to verse 12:
We will never grow spiritually if we do not put God’s love into practice, and if we don’t share this great love with those who haven’t met the Savior yet. No one will see Jesus in the church or in the world if we don’t share it, and as a result God’s love won’t be perfected in us.
“Godlike living demands Godlike loving. ”
Think about when God gave the gift of His very own Son to a world that could give nothing back. This is the greatest gift we could ever receive.
If you know the One who loves you most, if you are secure in the supernatural, sacrificial love He has lavished on you, and understand the supreme value He places on you, you can’t help but respond to His first love.
Receive, respond to, and then ask God to show you to whom you need to share His love with!
