GOD IS LOVE Devotion 26 of 34 "Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17) LOVE IS PERFECTED IN US Our text reads, "HEREIN is our love made perfect." Other versions read, "By this, love is perfected in us" (NASB), and "In this way, love is made complete in us" (NIV). The love being consideration is not our love for God, but God's love for us. That love is not a mere blanket of tolerance or pillow of forbearance. It is something that works IN us as surely as it has TOWARD us. The aim of God is not merely to focus His love upon us, but to have it dwell within us, working in such a way as to glorify Him and prepare us. This love is "shed abroad," or "poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Rom 5:5, NKJV). Quenching and Grieving the Spirit Right here it is important to note the seriousness of hindering the work of the Holy Spirit. It was said of Israel, "Yes, again and again they tempted God, and LIMITED the Holy One of Israel" (Psa 78:41). There is a strain of theology that says it is not possible to limit the Holy One, but it is only a human imagination. There are places like Jesus' hometown, where even He "could do no mighty work" (Mark 6:5). It is not that God is impotent, and such a thing must not even be suggested. Rather, it is that His nature does not allow Him to work for good where unbelief and resistance are dominant. The Perfection of Love The perfection of love refers to the fruitage it is intended to yield. Like a fruit tree has served its purpose when it bears fruit, so love serves its purpose when it yields the results declared in this text. The immediate evidence of that fruition is the love of the brethren. The ultimate evidence will be boldness in the day of judgment. – Tomorrow:
"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love . . . God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." (1 John 4:9,16)
There is an objective realized when the love of God is in us – a purpose that it fulfills. This text will affirm that purpose to be far reaching, indeed. The love of God is not something to be philosophized. It is rather intended to be experienced. For example, the failure to conduct ourselves properly toward the people of God is owing to the love of God not dwelling in the individual. Thus the rhetorical question is asked, "But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?" (1 John 3:17).
Our text is built upon the foundation put down in the previous verse: "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him" (4:16). Here is the principle postulate: "God IS love." Therefore, wherever love is found, God is found. Wherever it is not found, He is not found. The person who, from God's view, loves, does so because he is dwelling in God and God is dwelling in him, for "God is LOVE." Contrary to the proclamation of the 60's generation, "love" is not God, but "God is love" – and there is a vast difference. Divinity does not flow out of love, but love flows out from Divinity. That is, we are not in God and God in us because we love one another. Rather, we love one another because we are in God and God is in us.
Solemnly we are warned, "grieve not the Holy Spirit" (Eph 4:30), and "Quench not the Spirit" (1 Thess 5:19). And why is such an admonition necessary? There are at least two reasons. First, there remains in the flesh the dreadful capacity to ignore the Spirit, paying no heed to Him. Thus it is written, "the flesh lusts against the Spirit" (Gal 5:17). Second, the Spirit of God will not strive endlessly with men. As it is written, "My Spirit shall not always strive with men" (Gen 6:3). These are declarations of the NATURE of the flesh and of the Spirit of God. One is repelled by the other.
Those who cultivate insensitivity to the Holy Spirit are jeopardizing their soul. For the Holy Spirit to remain in such a person is equivalent to the ark of the covenant remaining in the temple of the Philistine god Dagon. It simply will not happen. Those who think this cannot happen must remember king Saul, the "Lord's anointed" (1 Sam 26:22). It is written, "the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul" (1 Sam 16:14).
If the love of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we do well not to interfere with work by entertaining an "evil heart of unbelief in departing from the Living God" (Heb 3:12). If it is possible that someone doubts such a thing can happen, how is it that the Spirit warns us not to allow it to happen in us? "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God" (Heb 3:12).
No believer can content himself with a mere sampling of love, or occasional manifestations of it. Love must be brought to maturity, else its purpose will not be realized. Remember, the perfection of love is directly related to our consideration of the people of God. They are the revealed focus of God's attention. There is no room in His Kingdom for the individual who, in his manner of life, is at variance with that fact.
PRAYER POINT: Father, I thank You for pouring out Your love into my heart by the Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, strengthen me so I will not be an obstacle to this glorious outpouring.