Reflections with Andy - 1 John 4: 7-21 – God is Love

Today, we are reminded of this deep truth. God IS love. Not just that God loves. But that God is love

In this Thursday reflection on 1 John 4:7–21, three beloved verses anchor the whole passage. First, John’s pointed challenge — how can you claim to love a God you’ve never seen while hating your neighbor standing right in front of you? — is sharpened by Dorothy Day’s searching line: you only love God as much as you love the person you love the least. Our love for God and love for neighbor aren’t separate categories; they’re proportionally linked. Second, perfect love casts out fear — not because we won’t experience fear, but because we don’t have to be ruled by it. God is not a divine scorekeeper waiting for us to fail; he is for us, and knowing that deeply changes how we move through the world. Third and most foundational: the passage doesn’t just say God loves, but that God is love — a statement not about what God does but about what God fundamentally is. His very nature is love. And if we are being conformed into his image, then we too will love — because that is what God is, and that is what we are becoming.

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Good morning! Great to be with you on this Thursday as we continue through First John. And as always with this little letter — there are verses in today’s passage that you probably know by heart. Let’s read them together. First John chapter 4, verses 7 through 21:

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.”

Three verses in this passage are especially dear to me, and I want to work through them — starting at the end and working back to the foundation.

How can you love God who is unseen, yet hate your neighbor who is seen?

John’s logic here is airtight. I have experienced God deeply — in my faith, in my ministry, in my life. But I have not had a transfiguration moment where Jesus appeared in blinding glory. I’ve seen God through people and through the work of the Spirit, but I have not physically seen God. So how could I claim to love a God I cannot see, while hating my brother or sister standing right in front of me?

There’s a line from Dorothy Day — the great Catholic reformer — that has always stayed with me: you only love God as much as you love the person you love the least. That’s a searching word. My love for God is, in many ways, measured by my love for my neighbor. They’re not separate things. They’re proportionally linked. So the question worth sitting with today is: how am I loving the people right in front of me?

Perfect love casts out all fear.

This is huge, and I don’t want to rush past it. So much of our life can be dominated by fear — fear of the future, fear of failure, fear of not measuring up. And I think a lot of that fear, if we’re honest, is rooted in a distorted picture of God. We unconsciously imagine God as a divine scorekeeper in heaven, waiting for us to mess up so he can get us. But that is not who God is. God loves you. God is for you. And if we truly know that — if that settles into the deep places of our hearts — then perfect love casts out fear. Not that we won’t have fears, because of course we will; we’re human. But we don’t have to be ruled by fear. We don’t have to live dictated to by it. Because you are perfectly loved by a perfect God.

God is love.

This is the foundation of everything. And I want to be careful here, because there’s an important distinction. The passage doesn’t just say God loves — though he does, deeply and completely. It says God is love. That’s not a statement about what God does. It’s a statement about what God is. His very nature. His very being.

I think of the old Wesleyan hymn — Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown — a beautiful tune that I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever sung in a church that actually used it, but the final line is this: thy nature and thy name is love. Not God loves. God is love.

Tim Keller used to say that God’s nature has two essential sides — love and holiness — and that both of our great spiritual struggles are tied to losing sight of one or the other. When we forget that God is holy and only see his love, we slide into temptation — it doesn’t matter how I act, God loves me anyway. But when the enemy hides God’s love from us and all we see is his holiness, we slide into accusation — why even try? I’ll never measure up. Temptation forgets holiness. Accusation forgets love. And both can lead us into dark places.

So don’t ever let either slip. God is holy. And God is love. That is the very heart of who he is.

And if we are going to have the image of God restored in us — if we’re going to be Christians, little Christs — then we are going to love. Because that’s what God is. That’s what we’re being conformed into.

So today: love your neighbor, because you can’t claim to love a God you can’t see while neglecting the person standing right in front of you. Don’t be afraid, because perfect love casts out fear and God is not out to get you. And rest in this deep truth — not just that God loves you, but that God is love. He can’t help it. It’s his very nature.

Tomorrow we start chapter 5, and then we’ll be wrapping up First John before moving into Second John. Thanks for being with me today — have a great rest of your day!