(For April 4, 2024)

1 John 4:7-21

7 My much-loved friends, love each other, for love comes from the Great Spirit. All who love have been born of him and know him. 8 Those who do not know him, for the Great Spirit is love. 9 Creator showed his love for us by sending the only Son who fully represents him into this world, so that we could live through him. 10 This is love, not that we loved Creator, but he loved us and proved his love by sending his Son to take on himself the burden of our broken ways.

11 My much-loved friends, if Creator loved us like that, then we should also love each other. 12 No one has ever seen the Great Spirit, but as long as we love each other, he remains in us, and his love is made complete in us. 13 We know that we live in him, and he lives in us because the Creator has shared his Spirit with us. 14 We have seen and now tell you the truth about what our Father the Great Spirit has done. He sent his Son to be the Sacred Deliverer of the world. 15 Those who tell others that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) is the Son of the Great Spirit are the ones Creator lives in, and they live in him.

16 We have come to know and trust the love Creator has for us. The Great Spirit is love. He remains in those who love and keep on loving, and they remain in him. 17 Love is made complete in us so that we will stand without fear on the day Creaotr decides who has done right or wrong. For in this world, when we love as he loves, we are just like him.

18 Where love is there can be no fear, for mature love drives all fear away. Fear comes from the thought of punishment. So love has not yet matured in those who continue to be afraid. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If we say that we love the Great Spirit but hate others, then we are speaking with a forked tongue. If we do not love someone we can see, then how can we love a Creator we cannot see? 21 And from him we have been given this instruction: the ones who love the Great Spirit must also love the members of his family.