Here's what we're wondering about:
parts of today's Epistle: 1 John 4:8, 16b, 19
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
16b God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God,
and God abides in them.
19 We love because he first loved us.
Sometimes I feel mad and unkind, sometimes I might even say that I hate someone. Does that mean that I don't know God? How can I make that right?
What if I didn't know that I was loved? What if I don't feel loved?
Does God always love me? How do I know that I am loved?
Abide (in Hebrew, "yashab") means: to sit, dwell, stay, remain.
What, then, does it mean to abide in love, to abide in God, and to have God abide in me? (Here are more thoughts about the word abide. And here is the beloved hymn, #662 in The Hymnal 1982, Abide With Me.)
How do I show people that I love them? How do I show God that I love him?
How do I know that God loves me? And everyone?
How does God show us the way to be loving - to abide in love?