1 John 4:7-21 (NRSV)
Read 1 John 4:7-21 on biblegateway.com
Verse 7Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Verse 8Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. Verse 9God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. Verse 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Verse 11Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. Verse 12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. Verse 13By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
Verse 14And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. Verse 15God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. Verse 16So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
Verse 17Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. Verse 18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. Verse 19We love because he first loved us. Verse 20Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or 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. Verse 21The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
Devotion
Civil Rights heroine Ruby Sales has described her spiritual upbringing in the black folk church as vital to her identity, self-worth and care for the world. Scripture and simple songs were placed on her lips as some of her first words and tunes. They are melodies about the power of God's abiding love in the face of hate, fear and apathy.
I am haunted by something she said in an interview with Krista Tippet in the fall of 2016. She said that she is perplexed by how quickly white people judge each other unworthy of redemption. Minority communities, she explained, do not have the luxury of distancing themselves or giving up on one another.
Maybe you memorized these verses about love in a Bible school song or heard them read at weddings. Ruby Sales has helped me reimagine this love ballad as an essential ingredient for revealing the kingdom of heaven, wherever hate causes terror, where systems are breaking and when people are separated from God’s grace. It is in these places that the love of God creates new life and hope.
Prayer
God of love, you sent your Son into the world to set us free from the snares of blame, sin and oppression. Give us courage to see and serve one another with love that comes from you. Amen.