Complete Love

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:11-12

My middle daughter Stephanie is a natural born organizer and clean-sweep extraordinaire. During her last school vacation, she cleaned out and organized the game and puzzle cupboard – putting together each puzzle to make sure it still had all its pieces.

Looking at one of the puzzles she put together that was missing a single piece, my eye was immediately drawn to the part of the puzzle that was missing instead of seeing what was there – a beautiful picture. The puzzle lost its value because it was not complete!

1 John 4 focuses on God’s love and ours. It details our love story . . .

1. God is love (1 John 4:8).
2. Love comes from God (1 John 4:7).
3. God showed us His love when He sent Jesus into the world (1 John 4:9).
4. Because God loves us, we ought to love one another (1 John 4:11).
5. If we love one another, as we ought, God’s love is made complete in us (1 John 4:12).

When we love one another, God’s love is made complete and perfect – it reaches its goal, and is fulfilled!

But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did (1 John 2:5-6, emphasis mine).

Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him (1 John 4:16-b17, emphasis mine).

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us (1 John 4:12). The opposite must also be true. If we don’t love one another, God’s love is not complete in us. There’s something missing! When we lack love, people’s eyes will be drawn to what’s missing, instead of seeing the beauty of our One and Only God! It’s God’s complete love – His love for us and our love for others – that makes the invisible God’s saving presence and love made visible for all to see.

Faith Step

Are you loving others as you ought? If not, today is the day to make amends, the time to seek forgiveness, and the hour to lavish love on one another.

Our life together in relationships of love is massively important because it has totally to do with God: he is the source of it, and the definition of it, and the goal of it.

John Piper