How God’s Love Transforms the Way We Love Others
Love isn’t just something we feel—it’s something we do. But how do we truly act in love? Explore the biblical foundation for love in action and what it means for our faith.
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God Is Love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because 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 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 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. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot[a] love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
The Four Foundations of Acting in Love
Love is not just an emotion or an idea—it is an action rooted in God’s very nature. As followers of Christ, we’re called to act in love, demonstrating His sacrificial and transforming power in our lives and communities. In 1 John 4:7-21, we see that love originates from God, is revealed through the Gospel, and is perfected in us as we abide in Him. Acting in love is not optional for believers; it is the evidence of our faith and the mark of a life transformed by Jesus.
Let’s explore the four foundations of acting in love.
1) Acting in Love Begins with the Roots of Love
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8
The root word in that verse is “Agape,” which is a sacrificial love. It is a love that comes from God and has been placed in the heart of a believer. Therefore, if love is from God, we immediately see that the root system of this love comes from God.
Love has been born of God and knows God. In the original language, the word “knows” in our verse conveys intimacy with the Father through the person of Jesus Christ. Anyone who does not love Jesus does not know intimacy with God because, as stated, God is love.
Sometimes, things aren’t how they appear or how we interpret them. Things can look like they’re happening on the outside when, in reality, there’s not much happening on the inside. Every believer, including your pastors, is susceptible to going through the motions on the outside. We can attend church weekly, carry a Bible, or lead a prayer time, but even in that, our intimacy with Jesus can wane.
1 John 4:7-8 highlights that for agape love to be activated in the life of a believer, that can only happen when it emanates out of an intimate relationship with God. Acting in love begins and flows from the root system of love, God Himself.
2) The Roots of Love Flow From the Gift of the Gospel
“In this is the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” 1 John 4:9-11 (emphasis added)
Propitiation is the act of turning away God’s wrath through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ; it is the act of satisfying God’s wrath or judgment against sin through Christ’s sacrifice, enabling forgiveness and reconciliation. John, the author, uses that word to drive our understanding of the root system of acting in love as Christ followers: It’s impossible to be loving and not be just.
Would you be dismissive if an individual committed a crime against someone you love? Would you reduce the situation to “Let’s just forgive and move on”? No, you’d acknowledge that someone crossed a boundary, and you would seek justice out of love.
Now, let’s be clear: As we seek justice, our goal should be to work through the stages of forgiveness, too. However, we shouldn’t ignore justice. The root of justice, and forgiveness for that matter, stems from love.
In being loving toward us, God must also be just. Someone had to pay the price for our sins, so He sent His Son to die on the cross. God didn’t do this because we loved Him first (1 John 4:10); instead, God did so because “He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
Colossians 2 shares that we were dead in our trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, yet God canceled the record of debt that stood against us by nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:13-14). That’s a picture of propitiation.
Unfortunately, throughout the years, many political leaders at every level, including local, state, and national, have crossed moral boundaries in the name of money, sex, and power. When those indiscretions are ousted, the information is plastered all over the home pages of local and global publications. Our screens broadcast the moral failures of those individuals.
Consider this twist: What if our sins were on the front page of every publication and broadcast tomorrow? What if your name, bio, and every dark moment and transgression were blasted for all to see?
Colossians 2:13-14 is the answer, which is why the propitiation of Jesus is so profound. Because of the work of Christ on the cross, when your name goes onto the screen, there’s nothing there. When a person puts their faith in Christ, the work is so powerful that it erases the debt record; it’s all canceled.
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10
God took the initiative, which only exemplifies the nature of His goodness. Who else can love you like that? The late Tim Keller once shared, “When Jesus Christ was in the garden of Gethsemane and the ultimate darkness was coming down on Him and He knew it was coming, He didn’t abandon you; He died for you. If Jesus Christ didn’t abandon you in His darkness, the ultimate darkness, why would He abandon you now, in yours?”
3) Our Understanding of Love Deepens Our Roots of Acting in Love
This may seem commonsensical, but we cannot walk in what we do not understand. As we work through our passage, 1 John 4:7-21, John builds the understanding of God’s love in the believer’s heart.
“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
There are three admonitions in that passage to guide our understanding.
The work of the Holy Spirit is our source of love.
Whoever abides in love, it emanates from your abiding in God.
Believe God and the love that He has for us.
When you examine a larger boiler system, there’s a little glass tube with water on the exterior. These are placed on the system to ensure it is working properly because you can’t safely open the lid due to the immense pressure inside. This gauge shows the levels of effectiveness within which the system is operating. Like that gauge, John’s admonitions indicate our walk with Christ in manifesting and acting in love.
4) The Love of God Builds Our Confidence to Act in Love
“By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this is the commandment we have from Him; whoever loves God must also love his brother.” 1 John 4:18-21
John affirms that one day we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For believers, this is not a place of fear. We see in our passage that love is perfected in the believer in a way that it’s in this life. That’s why he used the phrase, “as Jesus is, so also are we in this world.”
There’s no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. If someone says, “I love God but hate [insert individual(s)],” this verse reminds us that that’s implausible. Scripture tells us to pray for our enemies, and when we seek God to help us love those we find grating or difficult, we will see a change within ourselves. As the missionary and author Elisabeth Elliot said, “The secret is Christ in me, not a different set of circumstances.”
The answer isn’t to run when Jesus challenges us to act in love. The answer is: What is Jesus developing in you? What is He developing in you so that you manifest love so that the indicator of your life is tapping into a source beyond your own?
The goal is to operate in the power of the Spirit, which can only be tapped into in your weakness. We have to move to prayer and God’s Word. “Jesus, show me the way amid my circumstances. Not in my old nature, but help me move in Christ’s new nature as I abide in you.”
Minister Eugene Peterson said, “We can’t hear God’s love being spoken to us without looking into the faces of our neighbors, whom God also loves and commands us to love. When we come to worship, we are not isolated individuals but a family of God. We come to worship not just to see and hear but to pray and praise God with one another.”
Lord, equip us to act in love.
TL;DR
1 John 4:7-21 teaches that love is not just an abstract concept but a defining characteristic of God and His people.
Acting in love begins with knowing the source of love—God Himself.
Our love is shaped by the gift of the Gospel, which demonstrates sacrificial love through Christ’s atoning work.
To grow in love, we must deepen our understanding of God’s love, allowing it to shape our actions and relationships.
Confidence in God’s love enables us to act in love without fear, trusting His Spirit to guide us.
Love is the evidence of our faith, the foundation of our community, and the mark of a life transformed by Christ.
