“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”—1 John 4:9–12 (ESV)

In 1965, a young Bob Marley penned the words to “One Love,” a song that would become a timeless anthem calling for unity and brotherhood among humanity. Marley voiced humanity’s deepest longing. This wasn’t merely a song about getting along; it was a prophetic cry for the restoration of our original design—to be love and to love on another.

Decades later, this message still resonates because it communicates a truth that transcends time and culture. Woven into our humanity is a desire to be loved. But here’s the piercing question: Where does one find the strength to love others?

This leads us to today’s verse, where John helps us see a truth we often forget: We can’t give what we don’t have. The source of strength needed to love people is difficult to harness, especially when we’re facing our own challenges. We live in a world with a “dog-eat-dog” mentality. In the fast-paced, success-driven culture we live in today, we barely have time to worry about ourselves, let alone others. Yet John teaches us something revolutionary here. The way of Jesus is radically different from our culture. What our culture needs is to experience the love of Jesus through people whom Jesus has loved.

John takes us deeper into this mystery by revealing that love isn’t simply an attribute of God; it’s God’s very essence. The incarnation was love, making Himself known in flesh and blood in the person of Jesus Christ. God sent His only begotten Son to give us both the power and the pattern to demonstrate this same love to others.

Let’s first embrace this foundational truth: We are loved. If you ever wonder about the depth of God’s love for you, look at the cross. Romans 5:8 (NIV) puts it perfectly: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He didn’t wait for us to clean up our act—He loved us first at our worst. As we understand this love—how it provides grace, forgiveness, and trust in a Father who cherishes us—something beautiful happens. We discover peace in difficult days, hope in dark hours, and eternal hope for the future because this life isn’t all there is. This understanding transforms us. We become able to love others with the overflow of love the Father has poured out on us.

So, let’s demonstrate to a watching world what loving like Jesus looks like. When that aggressive driver cuts you off on the interstate, respond with grace. When your coworker takes credit for your idea, choose forgiveness. When someone ahead of you at the grocery store struggles to count exact change and pulls out their coupon book, offer patience instead of irritation. This is how we make the invisible God visible—one act of radical love at a time.

Pause: Ask yourself: 

Question 1: If God’s love is only made complete in us when we love one another, what does the incomplete state of your relationships reveal about your understanding of God’s love in your life?

Question 2: Since no one has ever seen God, but He becomes visible through our love. Therefore, when people encounter you, are you demonstrating Jesus to them?

Practice: Before responding to someone who irritates or challenges you, take a deliberate breath and ask: “How might God’s love be wanting to flow through me right now?” Look beyond their behavior to see them as God sees them—beloved, created in His image, and worthy of the same dignity and value you’ve received. This transforms your perspective from judgment to compassion and from frustration to loving like Jesus!

Pray: Our Father, holy and exalted, whose ways are above all, who established creation in love, we sit in awe of the extravagance of Your love for us as we read 1 John 4:9–12. Lord, thank You for Your Son Jesus and for the life we receive in You, Holy Spirit. Thank You for the love that covers, cleanses, redeems, and restores. Make us a people who, in response to the value You’ve placed on humanity, set our hearts to love one another. Lord, make Your love complete in us, so that though the world doesn’t see You, they may glimpse Your goodness through Your children. Saturate us in You, Lord, and help us to know the weight of Your sacrifice. Give us, Lord, Your nature and heart—from which everlasting, unconditional, divine love flows. Forgive us when we have withheld love because of pride. Thank You for Your mercy. Guard our hearts from pride and self-preservation, that we may be a people who freely give what has been freely given to us. Remove the strongholds that keep us from walking in Your way, and protect us from offense. Transform Your church, Lord. Transform me. For Yours is the power and the glory and the honor, forever and ever. I pray this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.