SAVED TO LOVE

“Beloved, let us love one another. For love comes from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). Knowing God speaks of knowing him in a relationship. The way a friend knows a friend. The way a husband knows his wife. He is a personal God and the only relationship with him that is available is a personal one.

So, when John writes, “everyone who loves is born of God and knows God,” he’s talking about knowing him intimately. Not just knowing about him. The way that we know him is through a relationship with Jesus Christ (John 17:3), which comes about by accepting Christ and living our lives for him.

John says it so simply it cannot be misunderstood. If you know God, you will be a person of love. No matter how many other things we know or do not know, we cannot claim to be a follower of God if we do not express love. It is a way of life for those who know Christ. It cannot be any different. No matter what “title” a person wears, they are known by one thing.

“This is how all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Nothing is said about knowledge of great Bible doctrines. “Attending church.”Engaging oneself in ceaseless religious work. The way to know that someone is following Christ is by whether or not they are a person of love.

Many believers worry about their salvation. They wonder if this God of love would ever reject them. And there is one simple way to know whether or not one is saved. Do we love Jesus and others? The bad news is, if we don’t, then we don’t know him. “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8).

In the same way, a person who loves Jesus and loves other people because of Jesus, is a saved person.

Dewayne Dunaway