Advent Conspiracy Devotional: Tuesday, December 21st

Scripture: 1 John 4:15-17                                                            If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.

Reflection: Most of the times God is described in the Bible, there is great length taken to explain that all words fall short.  But here, in 1John, there are no such explanations.  Instead, God is simply defined as love. 

            God is love.  Love is so central to who and what God is that it can be considered the defining quality of God’s.  Knowing God is knowing love.  And if we ‘live in love’ then we are living in the will of God. 

            So, if God is love and we are in God then that means we are called to be love as well.  If, as Christians, we are seeking to be followers of and witnesses to Jesus Christ, then the defining quality of our lives as individuals and together as a community should be the same as God’s.  We are called as individual Christians and as a Christian community to be love to the world around us. 

Question:  How can you ‘be love’ to the world around you?  To your family, friends, coworkers, classmates?

What is difficult for you about ‘being love?