“since God loved us that much.”
What external changes can we expect to see when we live loved?
Living loved means that we understand the True Source of love. Living loved means we can expect to notice internal transformation. Living loved also means we will need to embrace specific external changes.
When we live from a place of knowing that we are deeply loved, how we relate to the world will be impacted. Embracing those changes may be uncomfortable, but how we interact with the world will directly reflect whether we are living loved or not.
Let’s look at some of the external changes we can expect taken from 1 John 4.
External Changes from Living Loved
LOVE OTHERS
“Let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4: 7-8, NLT, bold added for emphasis)
The Greek word for love in these verses is “agape.” Agape love is not an affectionate friend type of love, “philos,” or a romantic type of love, “eros.” Agape is a sacrificial, unconditional love demonstrated through actions.
When we live from a place of being deeply agape loved by God, His atoning, unrestricted love will become apparent in how we begin to agape love others. Agape love will only come naturally to us or be easily sustained by first tapping into our true Source of being loved. Christ’s love for us, in us, and through us empowers us to see people and love them in ways we never thought possible or could have imagined.
“Since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.” (1 John 4:11)
Living loved will be demonstrated in how we love others.
RELY ON GOD’S LOVE
“So we know and rely on the love God has for us.” (1 John 4:16, NIV, bold added for emphasis)
When we come from a place of deeply loved by God, we will turn to Christ for our strength. We recognize our dependence upon God and surrender our tendency to do anything from our own abilities and power.
Throughout our day, we will experience moments of pause as we shift from striving from our sufficiency to seeking God’s wisdom and relying on His strength to move us through what lies ahead.
Living loved will be reflected in our reliance on Christ.
LOVE LIKE JESUS
“And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.” (1 John 4:17, NLT, bold added for emphasis)
We may see ourselves far from living like Jesus. Living loved is a process, but through the years of receiving God’s love, we will be shaped into living more like Him.
Think briefly about where you were from one year to the next in your journey with Christ. Each year, I would imagine, would tell a story of Christ molding you to be more like Him. Maybe you are not where you would like to be, but I trust by God’s grace, you are not where you were.
Living loved will lead us to look more like Jesus.
TESTIFY OF GOD’S LOVE
“Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” (1 John 4:14, NLT, bold added for emphasis)
When something extraordinary or even the simplest but newsworthy occurrence happens, we post on social media, send texts, and share about these events. We naturally want to tell others about good things that happen.
When God intersects with our lives in evident ways that could only be God, those who live loved will also naturally want to give credit to God. We will be grateful to Him, and want to share with others how He has loved us.
Living loved will be a life that tells others of His love.
The impact of living loved will not be contained internally, but will spill out into the way we live and love. Those of us who live loved…
- We will embrace that God initiated love first to us, and also be willing to not wait on others to take the first step, but initiate love first.
- We will embrace how God freely loves us with grace and mercy, and also be willing to love others without conditions and expectations.
- We will embrace how Christ loved us enough to leave the comforts of heaven, and also be willing to leave our comfort zones and enter the hard with others.
- We will embrace God’s unconditional love for us and the ultimate sacrifice He paid through His Son’s death, and also want to extend the same type of agape love to others.
Living loved is a privilege, a process, and possible because God loves us.
“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever!” In Jesus’ name, so be it. (Ephesians 3:18-19 NIV)
Meditate: Christ’s love empowers me to love differently.
Reflect: How do you rely on God to help you love others? What has God done for you lately that you have shared with others? What are some ways you would describe the difference between God’s way of love from the world’s way of love? How does knowing God profoundly loves you help you agape love others? Do you feel you are living loved?
Deeper: 1 John 4:7-21; 1 John 2:7-11, 15; I John 3:11-19
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(Bible References: NLT – New Living Translation, NIV – New International Version)
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