Additional Thoughts on Christ and Love

Okay. So I thought I would read again last night since God was so gracious as to bless my reading time the night before. I decided to stay where I was and just read more into what I had previously read. It is really enjoyable to be able to gain insights again from reading the word. As before I will state again that these are my thoughts and what I believe Christ is teaching me. I hope they encourage you and point you to Christ. If they do not, then disregard them.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1 John 4:13-16

It seems that John is implying that confession is an act of believing or understanding. It is not just making a statement about something but seems more to be an act of aligning oneself with a certain thing. In this case, they confess that they believe the love of God to be Jesus Christ being sent to save the world. The verses previous to these state that only those who believe in Christ and God's love are the ones that are able to truly love because they know what love truly is. Because of their confession of Christ and partaking in love, they are able to abide in God. How are they able to abide in God because of their confession and partaking in love? When we love our neighbor then we are abiding in Christ, which is love, and John explicitly states that God is love and therefore we abide in God. We abide in Christ, we abide in love, and we abide in God. So we see another example or explanation of how Christ brings us back and reconciles us back to God. Without Christ we would not know what love truly is and therefore we could not truly love. Without truly loving we could never abide in God.

Lord Jesus, may we learn to abide in you as the perfect act of love and as we abide in you, may we have the confidence that we abide in God. Amen.