1 John 4:12-19, The Fruit of the Spirit: Love (4)

What can be done about reconciling the love and righteousness of God?  Apparently, in the Bible, there is a reconciliation.  How do I know that?  Because the Bible says “love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8) and “there is no fear in judgment” (1 John 4:17-18).  The key to this reconciliation is in a third attribute of God: GOD IS FAITHFUL!  He will do all that He must do.  He will love mankind perfectly.  He will maintain His righteousness in the process.

What does the God who is love faithfully provide for us, for those He loves?

·       Heb. 10:23; 11:11: He provides reliable promises.  We call this “hope.”  We can trust God in the future because He has made promises about our future and He will keep those promises.

·       1 John 1:9: He provides forgiveness because He is “faithful and just.”

·       1 Cor. 1:9: He provides strength (until the end.)

·       1 Cor. 10:13; 2 Thess. 3:3: He provides protection from excessing trials and from the evil one himself, the Devil who does not love people.

·       1 Thess. 5:24: He provides maturity, by which Scripture means, He will bring us to the conclusion He has/had in mind for us.  He made us for His glory.  Those who put their trust in Him will bring us to that place in the future, the place where sinners give glory to God.

Let’s stop for a moment.  Our love is patterned after God’s love.  We saw this in the first of these posts.  Look back through the above passages and meditate: God will keep His word, will forgive our “wrongness,” will strengthen us and protect us until He has brought us to the place where our love is like His!  I am so blessed to hear this.  Are you?

Here's a truth you may not realize: God’s faithful love is proclaimed in the Old Testament.  Here is a sampling.

·       Deut. 7:6-9: God’s choice of Israel “above all peoples on the face of the earth” is God setting His love on Israel.  He did not choose them because they were better or bigger than other nations but “because the LORD loves you.”  And note the connection of God’s love with His faithfulness: His loving choice of Israel was how He kept and keeps His covenant with Abraham.

·       Daniel 9:4: Daniel is in Babylon as he prays this prayer.  He is praying that God would keep His word and bring deliverance from Babylon to the people of Israel. 

·       Neh. 1:5; 9:32: Nehemiah proclaims God’s faithful love after the captivity, as the people had returned.

More on this in our next and last post on God’s love!