God’s Love in Us
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit (1 John 4:12-13).
God’s love is manifested to us at the present time in dwelling in us. The apostle says, “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.” In John 1:18 we read: “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” In John’s Gospel we see that the invisible God is made known to the world through the Lord Jesus Christ. Here we have the expression “no one has seen God at any time” repeated in John’s Epistle. But now God is manifested to the world, not through Christ, for He has gone back to heaven and is now at the right hand of God. Instead God is now manifested to the world through believers. How stupendous that now we must be God’s answer to man’s need to see Him! And when we love one another, His love is perfected in us. This means that God’s love to us has achieved its goal. We are never intended to be terminals of God’s blessings, but channels only. God’s love is given to us, not that we might hoard it for ourselves, but that it might be poured out through us to others. When we do love one another in this way, that is proof that we are in Him, and He in us, and that we are partakers of His Spirit. We should pause to marvel at His dwelling in us and our dwelling in Him.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 