1 John 4:12 “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God [dwelleth] in us, and his love is [perfected]in us.” Commentary: Do you remember the words of Jesus? He said if you have seen me you have seen the Father! We shall see two important Greek words in this passage bracketed above. The first word is “dwelleth”. It means to remain in and remain alive. Patience towards things and circumstances. Long suffering with patience towards people. We need his indwelling in us everyday producing the character of God within us! Especially under the stresses of the pandemic and political war! So how does God not continue to dwell in us? Only if we stop loving people! Does not matter political affiliation, race, religion or gender! Now when we take a look at the second word “perfected” things begin to come together in understanding of this passage! This word means to accomplish and complete our goal in unity with God! What is our goal? To be like God! Now comes the hard part of this goal! To be perfected we must suffer like Christ to love people! When you love people that hate you suffering will come! I thought if I loved everyone they would love me? Sorry friend not so! To be like God means to suffer! The Cross comes with the mission of God! No easy way! Love from the word Agape means a sacrificial love! Not a cheap love! It will cost you your very life! Prison! Condemnation! Mockery! A Cross! Stripes laid to your back! Spit upon! Laughed at! Marginalized! Are you ready to love people sacrificially as God does? Not every Christian is willing to pay the price! You cannot do this unless God dwells in you! Otherwise it is just religion! True love suffers! When Jesus ascended to the Father at Pentecost he promised to send the Holy Spirit to secure us until his second coming! Without the sacrificial blood of Christ and the Holy Spirit you will only be religious! We will fail without him! We cannot love people without Him! Receive Christ today to forgive your sin and then ask him to send you the Holy Spirit! Then love will flow out of you from the Throne of God like a river! James & Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com