ABIDING IN LOVE
If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have come to know and believe the loveG26 that God has for us. God is loveG26; whoever abides in loveG26 abides in God, and God in him. In this way, loveG26 has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him.
1 John 4:15-17
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Colossians 1:27
4:16b The Old Testament Israelite would look with wonder at the tabernacle or temple because the presence of God was in that building. No person, besides the high priest once a year, would dare to enter the Holy of Holies, where God was enthroned in glory. But we have God’s Spirit living in us! We abide in this love, and we experience the abiding of God in us.
NKJV Wiersbe Study Bible
When we surrender our lives to Christ, when we profess our faith in Him as the Son of God, His Holy Spirit comes to live in us. Our bodies become the temple of God (1 Corinthians 6:19). We experience the love of God, and that love fills us. Therefore, we “abide” or live in God’s love, and we live in God as He lives in us. In His high priestly prayer, Jesus asked the Father to make believers united as one with Him and each other—to become the family of God. In this way, believers would be made perfect or mature and by our love, the world would be shown the love of God.
I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one—I in them and You in Me—that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me.
John 17:22-23
This is the question we must ask ourselves: “Is the fact that we are abiding in God’s love clearly evident to those around us? Do are lives proclaim God’s love?” We are abiding in God’s love by His grace; but as we have said before, we need to tap into the power given to us by the Holy Spirit to consistently radiate the love of our Father to each other and the world. We are to reflect His love as His multifaceted, precious jewels.
Father, we are blessed to abide in Your love and have Your love fill us. May that love overflow onto our brothers and sisters in Christ and show the world the meaning of being in the family of God. May our love for one another cause those who do not yet know Jesus to be drawn to Him.