Love of God

(Just found this one in my drafts from Dec 7.)

1 John 3:1, 11, 16, 23-24 NIV
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God's commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

1 John 4:7, 9-13 NIV
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 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. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.   This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.

Several observations from these two chapters:
- God is the source and initiator of love
- We are commanded and expected to love one another as God has loved us
- We live in the presence of God as we love one another
- He has given us His Spirit for dynamic fellowship with Him

I'm not sure that I have consciously thought about the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit with respect to us loving one another.  I guess I have always thought of the Holy Spirit as One who speaks truth and conviction and gives gifting and power.  But I suppose that the Holy Spirit would also know something about this "love" that John speaks of.  Perhaps I should pay attention to the Holy Spirit, and then I might know something about love, as well.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your love, and thank you for your Holy Spirit.  May I be open to your love, and may I share your love.  I love you, and I pray in the name of Jesus.