Filled by His Love, Connected to His People

Imagine your life as a vase.

Throughout our lives, we try to fill that vase with things we hope will satisfy us—relationships, friendships, entertainment, success, recognition, experiences, and accomplishments. None of these things are necessarily bad. In fact, many of them are good gifts from God.

But there’s a problem: they always leave gaps.

We can find the right relationship and still feel empty. We can take the vacation, achieve the goal, watch the show, or reach the next level of success—and eventually discover that there is still something missing.

The problem isn’t necessarily that these things are bad. The problem is that none of them can completely fill us.

John points us toward something different: the perfect, everlasting love of God.

“Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that he has lavished on us! He has called us and made us his very own beloved children.” — 1 John 3:1 (TPT)

God’s love isn’t something we have to earn. It isn’t something He reluctantly gives. He lavishes it upon us.

Paul prayed that the church would experience the width, length, height, and depth of Christ’s love—a love so great that it is beyond our ability to fully comprehend. And then he says that as we experience this love, we are made complete with the fullness of life that comes from God (Ephesians 3:18–19).

That changes everything.

Because when we lose sight of God’s love, something begins to happen within us. Our love for God can grow cold. Our patience with people can diminish. Our grace can disappear. Frustration and bitterness can begin to take root.

It’s like plaque building up in the arteries of the heart. At first, we may notice symptoms, but we try to treat the symptoms rather than address the blockage.

Spiritually, we need to allow the life-giving flow of God’s love to move freely through our hearts again.

This is one of the central invitations of 1 John: receive the love of Jesus so that you can live like Jesus and love like Jesus.

But there is another important part of this: we were never designed to experience that love alone.

John writes that he is proclaiming what he has seen and heard so that others can have fellowship with him—and that this fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ (1 John 1:1–4).

The Greek word for fellowship is koinonia. It means shared participation, partnership, or a common life together.

In other words, biblical fellowship is more than attending the same church. It is sharing life with God and sharing life with people because of what we have in common in Christ.

Notice the order John gives us. We walk in fellowship with God, and that creates fellowship with one another. The vertical relationship produces the horizontal relationship.

We encounter God, and genuine community follows.

That kind of fellowship isn’t passive. Scripture calls us to confess our sins and pray for one another, encourage one another, bear one another’s burdens, meet one another’s needs, forgive one another, show compassion, pursue peace, and refuse to neglect gathering together.

This is what the church is meant to be.

We aren't simply a collection of individuals who happen to believe the same things. We are people connected by the same Savior, filled by the same Spirit, and called toward the same mission.

Jesus said it simply: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)

So perhaps the question for us is this: What are we trying to fill our lives with, and have we allowed the love of God to truly fill us?

When we receive His love, we are changed by it. And when we are filled by His love, we can begin to love others the way Jesus does.

We receive His love. We live like Jesus. We love like Jesus.