1 John 4:16 says, “God is love.”
Isn’t that beautiful? God is love. He’s not just loving, God IS love.
So, we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16)
So, if God is love, what does that make you?
Well, you are evil.
Genesis 8:21 says, “The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”
Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
Romans 3:12 says, “All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one person.”
What an unloving thing to say, right?
Well, Jesus said it in the Sermon on the Mount:
You are evil. (Matthew 7:11)
No, He was talking to the Pharisees!
No, it says at the beginning of the sermon:
Seeing the crowds, He went up on a mountain, and when He sat down, His disciples came to Him. And He opened His mount and taught them… (Matthew 5:1-2)
He was talking to His disciples.
Was it wrong for Jesus to say we’re evil? Well Hebrews 4:15 says,
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
He was without sin, so clearly not.
He is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)
Jesus said ,”No one is good except God alone.” (Mark 10:18)
And, we just read that God is love. (1 John 4:16)
So, if Jesus is going to call us evil, it must be a loving thing to say. In fact, you cannot know that God is love unless you know that you are evil. If you don’t know that you are evil, deserving of God’s wrath, than the version of God that you have in mind is not the loving God but a sissy God, who doesn’t go anywhere He’s not invited and doesn’t do anything without your permission. And that’s not the Maker of the universe; it’s a god of your own making.
God is love, but that’s not all that He is. The Bible also says:
God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation everyday. (Psalm 7:11)
But God shows His love for us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us! (Romans 5:8)
All who follow Him are not under His wrath, but in His love. And we come to know that God is love… when we understand the text.
(This video is by WWUTT. Discovered by e2 media network and our community — copyright is owned by the publisher, not e2 media network.)