Meditation 279
1 John 4: 7-21
We could read this passage and come away thinking that people are pretty great and that there is no need for growth in our lives. God loves us, so what more is needed. For those who come away with this opinion, “1 John expresses it in a way that leaves no room for doubt: “just as God is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17 b). In context, it’s clear that 1 John is not saying that Christians are omnipotent or omniscient or morally pure. No, 1 John is saying that because God lives in us, we embody God’s love for the world. We are not gods, but we are God’s. God’s love is incarnate in us. (Judith Jones. Working Preacher)
As those who know first hand that we are loved by God and cherished, we are invited to share that love with others. 1 John is very clear on that point. In verse 20 we read “Those who say. ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers and sisters, are liars for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen.” To love someone who is like us and who is kind and giving is easy, we all do that. God wants us to love in the same way that God loves, to love all without exception.
We have seen the way people react to one another when we watch and listen to the news. Politicians have vile things to say about their opponents, and those who stand for a cause may belittle those who have another point of view. The practice of tolerance can be seen as a weakness. Against this backdrop of human flaw and frailty we have the example of God’s love, which is best shown in the life of Jesus. Jesus was one who reached out to both the weak and the poor, he healed the outcast and he healed the Roman solider who was wounded on the night of Jesus’ arrest. Jesus was respectful to Nicodemus the Pharisee as he was respectful of the woman taken in adultery. Jesus spoke the truth boldly, but he hated no one.
As we come to God in our faith walk, we may be confident that we do not have to earn God’s approval. God loves us as we are, and as those who are loved by God, we are invited to live that love to show to others the Holy One that we serve and adore. This is a marvellous thing. It is hard for people to accept that they are loved as they are, and that God has a purpose for them. The writer Marianne Williamson put it this way “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” (“A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles”. Marianne Williamson)
Daily we may revel in the truth that we are loved by God. We do God no service by belittling this truth, and by doubting that we are of use in our world. God loves us and will work with us to be the means by which another sees the grace of God at work.