November 04, 2026 | Be Connected
Love Comes from God
Scripture: 1 John 4:7-12(NIV)
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.
Devotional
In this short paragraph, John used the word love thirteen times. But that’s just a warmup. In his three epistles of 1, 2 and 3 John, he used the word over thirty times, and in the Gospel of John he employed the word love nearly forty times.
Most famously, John quoted Jesus saying, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Now he is telling us to love others the way God loves us. Wow. That’s a tall order.
Somebody once asked Jesus what the two greatest commandments were. He boiled down the ten commandments and the six hundred thirteen laws of Moses into two simple directives: Love God and love others. In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Paul gave a running definition of love. Use this as a stethoscope to examine the spiritual health of your heart.
Love is patient
Love is kind
Love does not envy
Love does not boast
Love is not proud
Love does not dishonor others
Love is not self-seeking
Love is not easily angered
Love keeps no record of wrongs
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth
Love always protects
Love always trusts
Love always hopes
Love always perseveres
Love never fails
