Day 16: Seen and Unseen

1 John 4:19-21

We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Comments

Charlie Brown, the Peanuts character, once said, “I love mankind… it’s people I can’t stand!!”

This may sound ridiculous, but 1 John 4:20 tells us it is no less ridiculous than people who think they can love an unseen God when they have no love for God’s own children created in God’s image.

It’s like saying to an artist, “I love you, but I hate your art!” and the artist replies, “How can that be when my art expresses so much of who I am?”

Reflections

The word translated “hate” in this passage is a strong one from which we may recoil. Does it change the meaning of the text if we substitute “strongly dislike” or “look down on” instead? Is such behavior toward God’s children still incompatible with love for God?

What might you substitute as behavior that indicates love for God? What if we lead worship, pray, read our Bibles, and witness to others as signs of our love for God, but still “hate” some of God’s children? Does that work for us?

Are apathy and lack of compassion other forms of hate?

Prayer

Keep me honest, Lord, when I become enraptured by my love for you and yet show little evidence of any love for your children.