Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Thursday, 31 July 2014 "We love because God loves us"

Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Thursday, 31 July 2014 "We love because God loves us"
Daily Scripture: 1 John 4: God Is Love
7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
13-16 This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
Reflection Questions:
As John described how Christians treat one another, he likely thought about himself and the other disciples. They jockeyed for position, and got angry with one another at times (cf. Mark 10:35-45). Over time, Jesus re-shaped their thoughts and actions. John knew that loving others with Christ’s love isn’t reserved for people with naturally warm dispositions. This kind of active love comes from God, who “has given us a measure of his Spirit” (verse 13).
“No one has ever seen God” (verse 12) feels at first like a misplaced thought. But John went on to say, “If we love each other, God remains in us.” In other words, we see God in one another (like the line in Gordon Jensen’s song that says, “You’re the only Jesus some will ever see”). As you become more able to take in the truth of how much God loves you, how is this changing the way you see and relate to others?
John’s language is so familiar that it may be hard for us to focus on what he was really conveying. What difference do you see between “God loves” and “God IS love” (which is what John said twice in these verses)? In her book Many Waters, Madeleine l’Engle wrote of a “vast, patiently waiting love” at the heart of the universe. How does it shift your view of life and its meaning to trust that, rather than just a cold, empty universe?
Today's Prayer:
Dear God, you ARE love—what an amazing, mind-stretching truth. You know that it’s not quite as natural for me to love. Please keep loving me as I stretch and grow in my ability to reflect your love to others. Amen
Insight from Janelle Gregory
Janelle Gregory serves on the Resurrection staff as a Human Resources Specialist.
Two young girls sat in front of me – two young girls looking for answers, two young girls longing for love.
These two young girls lost their mother, my friend Blandina, seven months ago. There’s a chance that you may have read about my surprising friendship with Blandina and the pain of her passing on the insights before. Knowing that I would be going back to Malawi, I wanted so badly to tell her children that I had been thinking about them, wondering how they were, wondering where they were. But that message changed when I got there.
It changed when I learned that their father remarried a woman of another faith just two months after Blandina’s passing. It changed when I heard that their younger brother no longer attends church and that their older brother was nowhere to be found. It changed when I learned that despite obvious obstacles, these two young girls, Brenda (around 12) and Alinnfe (maybe 9) continue to come to church every Sunday all on their own.
With the help of the pastor for translating, I sat in front of these girls, praying for words to say.  The pastor opened with a question, “Do you know who this is?” as he pointed to me. “That’s my mom’s best friend,” they replied. My heart may have stopped at that moment as their response sunk in. I took a deep breath and told the girls how much I loved their mom and how I missed her deeply. Tears started streaming down Brenda’s sweet face as I told them that I know that their mom loved them very much, that God loved them and would watch out for them, and that I loved them as well. I asked if it would be okay if we could now be friends. And through those watery eyes, Brenda looked up at me and responded, “Yes.”
She then hugged me and would not let me go. We simply held each other in one of the holiest moments I’ve ever experienced. I was crying. Brenda was crying. Even the pastor was crying. I stroked her back and gently kissed her on the top of her head – reminding her over and over that God would watch out for her. We stood in this divine embrace for at least five minutes as she clung tightly around my waist. I truly believe that I was able to be a part of a message from God to let these girls know that they will never be alone. It is a moment for which I will be eternally grateful.
Being a part of God’s message to these girls was a reminder that His love is far more encompassing than we think. We can often view it like a river flowing from His heart to ours, but that idea barely does it justice. His love is more like an ocean – with no distinct beginning or end. We find ourselves surrounded by His love with opportunities to receive while simultaneously reciprocating and giving it away.
The depths of this ocean of love can be the source of sympathy for our hurting friend, patience for our troubled family-member, help to our struggling coworker, and encouragement for two young girls who recently lost their mother. When we recognize its mightiness and vastness, we see how He chooses to pour it into and through us to bring hope, healing, and His Kingdom here on earth.
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