1 John 4:7-21
God is LOVE
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
John 14:25-31
Jesus Gives Us Peace
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
Because God is LOVE and He created all things, including us, we are united to His LOVE...St. Augustine said "You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You."...So we have restless hearts that seek God, until we rest with Him, the One who created us...
God is not only LOVE, but He LOVES us and He teaches us what love is and what love is about...We are a part of God’s creation and a part of His LOVE...We are LOVED by Him and enabled by the Holy Spirit to see and know and love, to respond in gratitude to the God who reaches toward us first...This is how we know that we live in God and He in us: He has given us His Holy Spirit...And John and the other Disciples have seen and testify that the Father has sent Jesus to be the Savior of the world...If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, then God lives in them and they in God...And so we know and can rely on the LOVE God has for us...
We only know about love because of God...We love because God first LOVED us...This is how we know about love...And for reasons of the Holy Spirit, as we are made in His Image we want to know more about Him...So we seek God with faith, love, and our hearts...Seeking to find the One that will make our souls feel at peace...He left the earth and gave us peace...He said, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you...I do not give to you as the world gives...Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid...Seek God to feel a peacefulness in the soul...