Daily Reading for Personal Growth, 40 Days with God

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is (springs) from God; and he who loves [his fellowmen] is begotten (born) of God and is coming [progressively] to know and understand God [to perceive and recognize and get a better and clearer knowledge of Him].

⁸ He who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love.

⁹ In this the love of God was made manifest (displayed) where we are concerned: in that God sent His Son, the only begotten or ^[a]unique [Son], into the world so that we might live through Him.

¹⁰ In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins.

¹¹ Beloved, if God loved us so [very much], we also ought to love one another.

¹² No man has at any time [yet] seen God. But if we love one another, God abides (lives and remains) in us and His love (that love which is essentially His) is brought to completion (to its full maturity, runs its full course, is perfected) in us!

¹³ By this we come to know (perceive, recognize, and understand) that we abide (live and remain) in Him and He in us: because He has given (imparted) to us of His [Holy] Spirit.

¹⁴ And [besides] we ourselves have seen (have deliberately and steadfastly contemplated) and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son [as the] Savior of the world.

¹⁵ Anyone who confesses (acknowledges, owns) that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides (lives, makes His home) in him and he [abides, lives, makes his home] in God.

¹⁶ And we know (understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to and put faith in and rely on) the love God cherishes for us. God is love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him.

¹⁷ In this [union and communion with Him] love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him], because as He is, so are we in this world.

¹⁸ There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love ^[b]turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear ^[c]brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love’s complete perfection].

¹⁹ We love Him, because He first loved us.

²⁰ If anyone says, I love God, and hates (detests, abominates) his brother [^[d]in Christ], he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, Whom he has not seen.

²¹ And this command (charge, order, injunction) we have from Him: that he who loves God shall love his brother [^[e]believer] also.