“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.” – 1 John 4:7-12
I know of Joe Rogan from his days on the TV show Newsradio. Many, MANY others now know him from his podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Spotify doesn’t list the number of times his podcasts are downloaded, but they paid $100,000,000 for the exclusive rights to stream them. He has replaced print, radio, TV and the rest of the internet as a source of infotainment and commentary for many young people. So it was a big deal when he recently said about the COVID-19 vaccine, “If you’re a healthy person, and you’re exercising all the time, and you’re young, and you’re eating well…like, I don’t think you need to worry about this.”*
Yesterday he shared a remarkably humble… clarification (it wasn’t really an apology).He recognized that his previous statement was selfish, and noted that it makes sense that young people should get vaccinated for the sake of other people. He didn’t acknowledge that young healthy people do also need the vaccine for themselves, but he did say “I’m not a doctor… I’m not a respected source of information, even for me.”*
The Bible’s Letter of John are all about God’s love for the world. Specifically they are about how we in our lives can continue to share the love that Jesus embodied. In the passage above he makes it abundantly clear that our love for God is not shown in our words to God, but in how we care for one another. In this is love: not that we have received it, but that it is perfected through us to others.
God’s blessings are a gift to us, yes, but more importantly they are gifts to the world through us.
When the love of Christ enters our hearts, we break free of our limited selfish perspective, and begin to see others and the world through the eyes of God. We learn that we are a part of something beyond ourselves. We discover that God gives us the ability to make change, bring healing, and extend abundant life. It is quite humbling, because we face the reality of both our limitations and God’s limitless love.
* https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56948665
Eternal loving God, Author of Life and Giver of all Good Gifts, we open ourselves to the movement of your Holy Spirit. Allow us to see beyond ourselves. Help us to understand that we not only receive your love, but in your grace extend that to the world. We humbly acknowledge that we are not perfect; we joyfully discover that your love is perfected through us. We know this, show this, and lift this through Jesus. Amen.
Your questions for Sunday’s message:
1. When in the past year have you felt “boxed-in?”
2. What haven’t you missed and are ready to permanently let go?
3. What source of strength have you missed and want to restore?