Read: 1 John 4:7-21
We love because he first loved us. (v. 19)
When my wife and I got married, I thought my love was complete. Nearly ten years later, we had our first child, and then I was sure my love was complete. Then, when we had our second child, my love expanded yet again. In the years since, I have observed my children loving each other: giving gifts, celebrating accomplishments, soothing hurts. In their capacity to love, I have seen my love finally made complete.
The apostle John states that “God is love” (v. 8). God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are indeed a Trinity of self-giving love. For an eternity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit’s love was complete. Yet God envisioned a way for his love to expand even farther: he made us. God made us to embody his best, most beautiful qualities. Most importantly, God made us to receive his love. We, as individuals and as part of humanity, are God’s beloved. God loves everybody.
And that isn’t enough. It’s not enough to passively absorb God’s love. God’s love is ineffective and incomplete in us until we love back. We weren’t just made to receive God’s love; we were made to reciprocate it. But how do we love God when God is invisible and intangible? How do we love God when God is already complete? God makes it easy. We make God’s love complete by loving each other. As Christmas approaches, look at the people you know and the people you meet as God’s beloved. Respond to them as if they were your beloved. Then you will experience God’s love perfected.
As you pray, ask God to make his love complete in you.
Ben Van Arragon is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. After twenty years of congregational ministry, he now serves his denomination as a pastor wellbeing consultant in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
