Where Is the Love of God?
My daughter and I had just left our home one day and it was pouring down rain. We were sitting at an intersection and I saw an elderly person sitting at the bus stop bench. The bench had no covering and the person had a light jacket pulled over their head slightly. I felt so bad for this person who seemed so helpless! They may have walked quite a ways to get there and needed to catch the bus to get to their job or doctors appointment on time. I began to reach back in the floor behind me to see if I could find my small umbrella and when I finally found it, the light had changed and I was in the left turning lane. I decided to go just a short ways and make a U-turn to get back down to the intersection, all the while, my daughter and I getting more anxious to get the person the umbrella so that they wouldn't be totally soaked. As I made my way up to where I could turn I kept looking to see if a bus would arrive or pass me on the way. I had only went a short distance; maybe a quarter of a mile when I was able to turn around. All together it may have taken me about two minutes to get back to the intersection but it seemed like fifteen minutes as we could feel the compassion flooding our hearts for this poor helpless person with no protection from this relentless storm we were under! As we began to get closer we realized that the person was no longer on the bench! We looked all around us and in the patch of trees just behind the bench which was not very thick so it was easy to see. We didn't see the person anywhere!
That's when my daughter looked at me and said,"It must have been an angel!" I was already feeling a bit spooked by this strange phenomenon but she just pushed me right over the edge when she suggested that!
I thought off and on for most of the day about this incident and replayed what we had done and wondered what provoked us to do what we did. Even though it was pouring down rain, we were going to give away the only umbrella we had to someone we never had met before. As I was reading this morning I came across a passage that explains it very well. I'd like to share it with you,
1John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1Jn 3:17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
1Jn 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1Jn 3:19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
It is interesting to me that this passage beginning with 1John 3:16 is about the love of God and the verse we all know in John 3:16 is also about the love of God. I just had to mention that for you because it is easier to remember new verses sometimes if we see something we can relate it to.
As I read this passage the first thing I see is that it says we understand or perceive the love of God by "what He did for us" when He laid down His life for us. Then it says that we should follow this example. Notice that this verse says that He "laid down" his life. He didn't loose his life for our sakes! It was a choice that he made to lay it down. There's a difference!
If you lay down something, you have decided when, where and how you will do it. When you loose something you usually don't have any recollection of any of those things and it wasn't intentional. As a matter of fact we usually get upset when we realize that we have lost something!
Our Lord didn't regret laying His life down for the cleansing of our lives today. He didn't loose His life to the men that nailed Him to the cross and the ones that pierced His side! His life was laid down for us because He loved us so much that He had compassion on our helplessness and the fact that we WERE lost in our sins and condemnation.
This passage goes on to say that whosoever has the goods of the world seeing a brother in need and doesn't have pity on them, how does the love of God remain in him?
Then in verse eighteen we get some free counseling that will make a huge difference in our lives if we follow it. First of all it refers to the maturity of the believer as it says "My little children". Don't be proud and immediately disqualify yourself here! I know it's a bit humbling to be called a child but it isn't meant to shame you. This is the words of a teacher who has experienced and been trained addressing those of us who have not been taught these things or who haven't yet learned to live our lives as we are taught here in this passage. Let's all take it as it applies to each of us and get the full message. It says that we are not to love others in word or in tongue but in doing and in truth.
I had to look up the definition for truth here because it just seemed a strange place to use this word. To love in doing for others and truth? Well, it made much more sense when I researched it and found that this word came from a word meaning "to not conceal". Doesn't that make sense now? I am to give in deed or action and am to do it in truth or not hiding anything that I might have so I would help the other person. Hmmm? I might have been guilty of doing this a time or two in the past. How about you?
Come on! How about that favorite snack you had in your bag or lunch when someone said they sure were hungry. Maybe the dollar you had in your pocket when someone was short some change in the shopping line? How about the time that we had a pantry full of food at home and closets full of clothes we don't even wear any more and someone in our community has been struggling to keep his children clothed and fed while searching for a job during this time of economic crisis? Ouch! That one hit home with me too! We are all at some point or another going to have things that will help others and we will have time when we have needs! God planned it that way so that we can show our the love of God and we can experience receiving the love of God too.
In the last part of verse seventeen I want to take notice of the fact that this verse says something very very important about the love of God remaining in us.
1John 3:17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
Is the love of God remaining in us? Are we keeping our feelings of compassion open towards others or are we walking past people every day feeling nothing?
Does the love of God dwell in us today? If you are having a hard time feeling for others because of some things that have happened in your life, I urge you to talk with God about it! Let Him give you the love that required laying down His life and holding nothing back, concealing nothing (in truth), He gave His all for you! By accepting His love, you are able to also give his love to others in your life!
I'm still not sure if the person we saw that day was an angel or not but what I do know for sure is that my daughter and I had the love of God dwelling or remaining in us! I knew that we were of the truth and made sure of my heart as my Father was watching us that day. We didn't shut up our feelings of compassion and we acted on what we felt. I thank God for a daughter that has a compassionate heart and does not hold back when she sees someone in need!
1John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1Jn 3:19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
Let's pray,
My Jehovah, I thank you for your love that heals us from our sins and our past! Your love alone is so powerful that I long to pass it on to those who need your love today. Please take this passage and use it to touch the lives of all who need your love. Allow your compassion to flow through me today. Amen.
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