1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
I love lightbulbs! I have them in every lamp in my house, every recessed ceiling fixture, even outside my house. And I bet you do too! Light bulbs are a great invention that changed the world for the better. Kids doing homework in the evening might not appreciate the bright light that prevents them from doing what they want to do instead of their homework, but they are the exception.
But the lightbulb would be nothing without the electricity that powers it. Just like the coal burning electric power plants provide the power for the electric plugin cars, so it is with the lightbulb. No power, no functioning of the plugged in device.
Now, you might ask, why are we talking about lightbulbs? There are many devices that would be useless without power. But power without the devices is like power without a lightbulb; we would still be left the dark.
God loves the world, but He chooses to use us to light up the world. He is the power. We are the lightbulb. The world sees the light and is drawn into relationship with the LORD. We are nothing without the love of God, and God can’t accomplish what He wants to do in the world.
Now I know this illustration is limited in its scope and application. God is a person, not an energy. We are made in His image, not just glass, metal and filament.
Our text tells us that at this point in history, at the time of the writing of this text, the general rule was that people didn’t see God. There are instances when the LORD was seen by individuals, like Moses, but as a rule, we don’t see God. And we are His children.
So, if we don’t see Him, how is the world ever going to see Him?
But when we love one another, we are participating in the love that God has for us. His love flows through us to a hurting world. The switch gets thrown, and God lights up the world through us.
The purpose of God’s interactions with humanity in the world comes to its design outcome. The LORD has always wanted to love humanity and for humanity to share that love with each other. That is what “complete” means in our text. Complete means something has fulfilled its purpose, come to fruition, fulfilled its design.
An apple may be an apple when it first gets pollinated, but we don’t buy it until it is “complete”, mature, ready to bite into. God’s love is “complete” when we receive it and then pass it along to each other. Then it is “complete” as the world sees that love, and as we experience it.
The Arnold Journey 