No Man Hath Seen God
Last month, The Weekly Reminder ran a series based on 1 John 4. It is an amazing passage of Scripture, especially in dealing with our relationships with other members of the Body of Christ.
While I was writing those, there was one phrase in the chapter that just never seemed to make sense. In the middle of John's writing on love, and why we love God, there is a seemingly unrelated sentence: "No man hath seen God at any time." Right after saying that, the apostle goes on talking about love, talking about how God's love is perfected in us when He dwells in us:
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
This morning, as I was meditating on the passage, this phrase jumped out at me again, only this time I realized why it is there. It is not random–in fact, it fits perfectly. You see, we ought to love one another, as we are told in verse 11. But why is that important? Because although no man has seen God, it is entirely possible to see God's perfected love in the lives of His children.
What a responsibility that is. No one can physically see God, not the believer, not the unbeliever. But both can see God reflected in us. Does demonstrating our love to the Body of Christ matter? It absolutely does–it is how people see God.