1 John 4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

Theology can seem abstract and theoretical, but the Bible is intensely practical. John, known as “the apostle of love,” really lays it out in his letters. Having walked with Jesus for over three years in the flesh and then living with His Spirit for the rest of his life, he knew what he was talking about. One of the few things we know about his background is that he had at least one brother, James, and that Jesus gave them the nickname, “sons of thunder.” (Mark 3:17) That seems to indicate they weren’t so loving when Jesus got to them! However, even though Jesus had to call them down for wanting to call divine retribution on a town that had rejected them, (Luke 9:54-55) John, probably the youngest of the disciples, became Jesus’ pet, so to speak, to the point that he felt free to lean back against Jesus to ask him a question. (John 13:23-25) John had indeed seen Jesus with his physical eyes, but comparatively very few people had had that privilege, so this verse is very pointed. John was familiar with the teaching of the Gnostics, a heretical group that taught that the spiritual was everything and that the physical didn’t matter, and he countered their teaching explicitly in the first chapter of his Gospel. John was very aware of the importance of the spiritual, but he also knew that the physical was where we live, and its connection with the spiritual was inescapable. We too need to be practical in our faith, saying the right things but consistently going beyond words to apply God’s truth in our lives. We too need to love our brother so that we may experience the love of God.

This is particularly pointed for me, because I have had a lot of Bible knowledge from a young age, but am still learning how to apply it in daily situations. John is the person in the New Testament, apart from Jesus, that I would most like to be like. That’s a little ironic, because several people have said I’m very like Paul! However, I grew up surrounded by love, expressed to me by my parents and siblings but understood to come from God. At the tender age of five I went to my mother one time and said, “Mommy, I really, really love you, but I don’t love you nearly as much as I love Jesus.” What a privilege to be raised in a home that made me feel that way at such an age! That said, I have certainly experienced that some people aren’t easy to love. That reminds me that sometimes God has to exercise His divine omnipotence in order to love me! At this point I indeed love God more than I love my own physical life, so I need to be careful to let His love flow through me to those around me, particularly to those who seem less than lovable.

Father, thank You for loving me in spite of my many faults and lapses. Help me indeed love those around me regardless of their faults and lapses, knowing that we are all totally dependent on Your grace. Thank You. Praise God!