John was the one disciple who was so comfortable and intimate with Jesus that he reclined against Jesus at the passover meal, as they sat around the table. His head was on the heartbeat of Jesus. He was called "The Beloved Disciple". He was Jesus' close friend. He was the only disciple to whom Jesus confidentially revealed the name of his betrayer. And, in the book of 1 John, John writes to you and me to peel back layers of revelation of what REAL LOVE should look like. John's motives for writing us are threefold~
-to make our joy complete (1:4)
-so that we will not sin (2:1)
-to inform us about those who are trying to lead us astray (2:26)
But then he adds a few more reasons, as if three just weren't enough...
~because our sins have been forgiven on account of Jesus' name (2:12)
~because we have known Jesus who is from the beginning (v 13)
~because those among us who are young men have overcome the evil one (v 13)
~because those among us who are young children have known the Father (v 13)
~because those among us who are fathers have known Him who is from the beginning (v 14)
~because those among us who are young men are strong (v 14)
~because the word of God lives in us (v 14)
~because we have overcome the evil one (v 14)
"And this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like wicked men who are jealous of each other and commit murder in action or in thought like Cain. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him??"
John writes to those of us who are young in faith, "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: we know it by the Spirit he gave us."
Dear friends, let's love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This Son is an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him. In this way love is made complete (finished, full) among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. 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. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 2, 4, excerpts)
Get rid of our stuff (hangups, hesitations, selfish ambitions, fears, insecurities, unresolved hurts, jealousy, bitterness, offenses, rejection) by pursuing LOVE for our brother and sister and pressing in to help THEM with their stuff. Dive into 1 John. Walk in a second commandment lifestyle. Could it be that God is moving us into a greater degree of the 2nd Commandment lifestyle? (Remember, the first command is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength. The second command is to love your neighbor as yourself.) On the 2nd Commandment, if we are fighting for the breakthrough of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and if we are practicing random acts of kindness, mercy, love....then all of our own hangups melt away. (As Jesus increases in us, our flesh decreases. Isn't that cool?) We fix our eyes of Jesus because he is the author and the perfector of our faith. And, Jesus releases authority of an unprecedented increase to come (John 17) for us as his brothers and sisters! He prays that we would be made one in glorious unity. "Glory that they may be one as we are one."
We can do this, friends. Don't let your past shape your expectations, but call each other out and into raw, gutty unity--real raw love. We should be in love with one another. (thanks to Andy Byrd and to my dear friend Samwise for reminding me of this.)
Be Blessed, My Friends. You Are Greatly Loved.
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