Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 

1 John 4:7-11

This is a tough verse! It says quite plainly that if I am not loving others, I don’t know God. Ouch!

Good news! I don’t need to contrive or work up love for others. It is a gift from God. If I’m feeling a little short on love, I need to plug into the source. Allowing him to fill my heart, I can again reach out in love for others.

It sounds a bit too simple, but scripture affirms over and over that it is the Spirit of God who fills my heart with God’s love. When I am connected and receiving God’s love, he overflows onto others.

What keeps you from overflowing? Do you need a fresh perspective of God’s deep love for you, in all your imperfection and messiness? You see, if he loves me in all my weirdness and imperfection, I can love others in their messes. And I bet you can too!