Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 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.

• 1 John 4:7-12

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.

• 1 John 4:19-21

The Boilerplate

My wife took a Bible Study in 2009.  She had become a Christian in 2000, and about the time that she took this class during the week at night, she developed night blindness, or at least the start of it.  I would drive her to a friend’s house, and then the friend would drive her home afterwards.  The focus on the Bible Study was weight loss from a biblical perspective.  I don’t know if any weight was lost by anyone in the Bible Study, but a few members of that group became very good friends.

My wife passed away in March and I found her study guide as I was cleaning up.  I actually found two study guides.  The other study guide was from a Bible study long before committing herself to Jesus.  Her answers were usually copying Scripture or turning the Scripture into her own words.  This Bible Study in 2009 showed signs of how God was working in her life.  It showed Christian growth.

So, instead of writing about a topic at random, I decided to write on the topics in the Study Guide, but instead of using the words of the Study Guide, I thought I would fashion the answers of her questions into a thread to discuss the topic.  And I will not use any comment about other members of the group study (few, and usually prayer requests).  That would be confidential.  Thus, I am writing about these topics “with a little help” from my wife’s answers to study guide questions.

Discussion on this topic

“[The first Scripture applies to] everyone who loves God.  [John tells us to} love one another.  [And the source of that love is that] God is love.”

• My wife’s thoughts about the first Scripture above

My wife made some simple declarative statements about the first verse.  But where can we go from here?

“That we love God and everyone comes from God.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

This is not what verse 8 adds to verse 7, but is my wife wrong?  We love because God is love.  Therefore others who love must have God within them.  They can love because God is in them.

But in loving everyone because they come from God is equally true.  We are all part of God’s creation.  Therefore, we have the capacity to love, and we do not know, at least at first, who has God’s love and who does not.  If they do have God’s love, we are part of the same family.  If they do not have God’s love, our loving them may not be reciprocated, but it is the best way to draw them closer so that these non-believers can experience God’s love and want to be a part of it.

This is not what John is saying in 1 John 4:8, but if we are willing to be hurt a little due to their rejection of the Good News, it is the best way to start a conversation, with love and concern for the other person.  Seeing a potential conquest is not a good way to start.

But how does John define love?

“That God loves us, and He sent His Son.  Love (worldly) is more of a good feeling.  Sex is fulfillment.  God loves unconditionally and His love is everlasting.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

And what if a fellow disciple calls us a “Dear friend”?

“… we are all friends because he knows God and loves us (in the Spirit of Christ). [And] because He loves us we also ought to love one another.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

And what is this new commandment from Jesus?

“We love because God first loved us – So He has given us a new command – Whoever loves God must also love his brothers.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts about the second Scripture above

But what about those who stuck through in my wife’s small group to the end.  What binds the small group together in love?

“For their faithfulness to the group and their struggles (same as mine).”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

But there were many more in this small group at the beginning.  How could my wife show love to all the small group?

“By understanding that God is on our side regardless of our failure and love them.  Even though we’re fallen off our diet – Learn to forgive – like God forgives us – by also praying with them and encouraging them through our Scripture memory verses.”

• My wife’s final inner thoughts

This ended her Bible study.  I have been unable to find any other Bible studies where she completed the questions.  There have been many, but maybe I have not found the right box or canvas bag.  She loved putting things away in decorative bags.

This ends this series, but I will continue to clean up the house.  I pray I will find something else within a few months.  I will start a different series next week.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory