God’s Love was not simply a feeling, or an opinion. John taught that Love needs to be acted out (1 John 3:18). This, again, is because of the example God has given to us. God sent Jesus to our world (1 John 4:9) as an act of Love. Here we find the purpose: the “propitiation” for our sins. The word “propitiation” involves a payment or sacrifice to cover the cost of our sins. Under the Mosaic Law, the Jews offered ongoing sacrifices for their sins. Yet Christ provided the ONLY sufficient payment, once for all, to cover the sins of the world. This was because He is The perfect sacrifice, without sin (Hebrews 4:15).
John emphasizes in this verse that godly Love is not something which originated with Man. Rather, it comes from God to us. As verse 19 will say, it was God Who Loved us first. As a result, and only as a result of this, we can Love Him. His Love provides us the opportunity to be born of Him, to know Him, and to Love others.
Because of what Christ did, we can confidently stand and say that we are in Him and He is in us. Though we live in our Earthly bodies, our spirit has been regenerated. We have been redeemed. We have a glorious future ahead of us, and it is by faith we believe this and continue to live out the will of God for our lives. We live a life of faith now, of total trust in our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of The Almighty God, our Father, Who never stopped Loving us and never will.
And we pray:
Dear God, I just want to thank You for Your endless Love for me. You have been there for me far before I knew of You or even thought of coming to You. I will forever thank You for that precious act of love, where you gave up Your Son so that I could be a part of You again. Jesus, my Savior, thank You for what You did for me and for everyone else on this Earth. It is because of You and Your Love, I can confidently say that You live in me. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.