Teachings of John Robert Stevens

The greatest thing in the world is love. And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves (or has) punishment (the King James Version says, “torment”), and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If some one says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. (The literal translation is, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Messiah is begotten of God; and whoever loves the one who begets loves the begotten of Him.”) By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. I John 4:16–5:2.

“We have come to know and to believe in the love which God has for us.” I was praying about this and I think it is most difficult for people to really believe God loves them. It is the whole message of the Bible, but it is very difficult to believe.

“Oh, we believe that God loves.”

But do you believe He loves you? And even when you are convinced that He must love you a little, you are continually worried about your own unworthiness of that love.

“How can He really love me?”

You must come to know and believe you are loved. The whole problem is believing you are loved, and believing God’s love is in you. Not only believe you love God and that He loves you, but believe in the love He has put in you. Turn it loose; let it work. Turn loose that love which is in you. God has loved you and has put His love in you so that you can really love. The inability of human beings to love as they really should is something you should face.

“Well, I just can’t love certain people.”

The faithful, enduring, abiding love is not a natural human attribute. People do not love that way. They are moved with love for a time, and then it fades away. The human being in his depraved state is incapable of long sustained emotions, of real depth of emotions, apart from God working it in him. We were never meant to be complete apart from God; we were meant to love because He puts it in us to love. We love, John said, because He first loved us. All we are to do is drink it in and say, “Yes, Lord, I accept that You love me.”

We must also know and believe the love of God that is in us. We reflect in kind. He does not love us with a divine love that we may love Him with a human love in return. He does not say to us, “I know you are weak and frail little human beings, so love Me the best you can. It does not make too much difference if you backslide a little once in a while, because I know you are only human. I consider your frame that you are but the dust of the earth.” We could quote Scripture concerning that and get the idea, “Well, God is going to love us perfectly, but we don’t have to be faithful.” Yes, we do. Divine love is based on that.