“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. 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. 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. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
(1 John 4:7-11 ESV)
Some years ago I went camping with a group of Scouts and we decided to follow a local creek until we found its source. We didn’t know where the spring was, but we knew there had to be one—after all, we could see the stream! So we followed it. After lots of walking and climbing through a jungle of plants higher than our heads, we finally found it—the spot where the water welled up from a rocky ledge. That was the spring, the origin of the water that flowed past our campsite. All the water the kids played and splashed in started from that single spot.
In today’s reading, John tells us where love comes from—not from our personal feelings or hard work, but from God Himself. He is the Spring of love, and His love overflows to water our thirsty lives. We ourselves are not the Spring—God is, and how do we know? Because He has given us Jesus to be our Savior, to lay down His life for us so that we might become forgiven, clean, beloved children of God. Jesus died and rose for us so that we might live forever, and His saving love is the water of life that runs all through our lives. That stream of love is the way we know God’s spring exists.
If you’ve ever gone camping, you know how necessary water is. We need it for drinking, for cooking, for washing, and even for playing. And yet we cannot make water—we can only take our buckets and go where the water already is to get it. Love is like that. We can’t force ourselves to love people—that’s like taking a bucket to a dry rock and demanding that it quench your thirst!
No, if we have any sense, we take our empty buckets to the Spring of love, to God Himself. When we trust in Him, His love fills us and overflows to meet our needs and the needs of the people around us—even the most unlovable. Then it will not be us doing the loving—it will be God Himself doing it through us.
We Pray: Dear Father, You have loved us in Your Son Jesus. Let that love overflow our lives to reach other people. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Originally published in The Lutheran Hour on April 24, 2024
Used by permission from International Lutheran Laymen’s League, all rights
Reflection Questions:
1. Have you ever tried to force yourself to love someone else? How did that turn out?
2. How much love does God have to give? Is it enough for you? For all of us? How do you know?
3. Ask the Lord to make His love flow through you to those around you