“We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)
John, an apostle and senior pastor, gets back to the basics in this letter. He warns against automatically believing without first evaluating messages by the agenda and results (Lk. 6:43-45, 1 Thess. 5:21). Some people don’t know what God is like, so they’re afraid because they don’t know that He loves them (Matt. 25:24-25, Jn. 8:19). Others rebel and lie about God (Matt. 12:34). Neither type of person loves well, because they’re only responding to what they know on their own.
But people who encounter God learn what He is like. They believe the message about Jesus as the human Son of God, and are adopted into God’s family (Rom. 8:16). They begin to dwell with God the Holy Spirit and respond to God’s love by growing to love others similarly, especially their new family members (Jn. 14:15-17). They persistently trust God, listen to those who tell the truth about God, and overcome deceptions because they know the truth about God (Jn. 16:13). They aren’t afraid of God because they know He loves them, and they’re confident they’ll be judged in light of their response to God’s love (Jn. 3:16-18).
So what should we believe? God as Father loves all He has created (Gen. 1:31); this is the motivation for drawing us to Him (Jer. 3). God as Jesus redeems us, and makes it possible to reconcile with Him despite our brokenness (Rom. 5). God as Holy Spirit dwells with/in us; as we get to know Him more deeply, we become more like Him (Rom. 6:4-11). Although God is not directly observable, His reality is proven by His effect on us – especially by the way we love Him, ourselves, and others (Mk. 12:29-31).