We Need God:1 John 4:7-21

“The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8, NASB).

When we listen to the news reports we might conclude that our country is in crisis. On May 16, 2022 a teenage gunman just 18 years old dressed in body armor entered a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. He killed 10 people and wounded three others. On May 24, 2022, an 18 year old fatally shot nineteen students and two school teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. According to the “Gun Violence Archive,” there has been more than 250 mass shooting in the United States in 2022—as of June 8, 2022. Guns are now the number one cause of deaths to children. These shooting are said to be because of people owning assault weapons, the sale of guns to people too young, mental illness, and hate. In this article I propose that these crimes are not so much about what is available to certain groups of people. Rather, as a Christian who believes the bible, the problem is about what we do not have. America is a godless nation and the only real problem is that we need God.

When we look at the reasons most often given for these mass shootings the one word most often that I have heard is “hate.” I agree that hate is the problem. If we say that hate is the problem, we have to know what hate is, what hate does, and the outcomes of hate. We have to know the source of hate and the remedy to cure hate. Singer Dionne Warwick said in one of her songs: “What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.” In his song, “What’s Going On” the late singer Marvin Gaye captured the idea often expressed about the remedy for hate. The song was a protest against war. “Father, father we don’t need to escalate, you see war is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate” If love conquers hate, we must ask this question: What is love? Where does love come from? How do we get love? How does love conquer hate?

The book of 1 John has much to say about love. When we read this book we discover that while hate is mentioned, love is explained more. According to John the cause of murder is hate. Hate is a sin, and we don’t like to talk about sin. We are like a child that does not want the medicine that mom wants to give to him. The medicine is bitter, but the medicine will cure his sickness. We don’t want to talk about sin because the medicine is the word of God. We cannot get love without getting God. We need God if we are to have a cure for hate. What does this have to do with mass shootings in the United States and elsewhere?

America prides itself on being a nation of diversity and inclusion. People from all over the world come to live here. They come with their religions, customs, and lifestyle. No one wants to give up their way of life. They come to America because they believe that in America they have a chance to have a better life. Because of the diversities of people we have largely eliminated God; that is the God of the bible that the founders of America used to help them to write the “Declaration of Independence,” and the “Constitution” that establishes the framework of our democracy. While it may be true that the founders were often victims of “bad theology” and social misbehaviors, they nonetheless were not willing to eliminate God as the primary source of knowledge that they needed to make this experiment called democracy work. Today, we want our democracy to work for all the people, but we don’t want God to be the source of knowledge and love for country and love for neighbor.

We need God because God is love, and God’s love is necessary if we are to love each other. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (v. 8). If we do not have God, how do we determine what we ought to do to eliminate hate and murder? Our politicians and government officials are trying to come up with laws that they believe will solve the problem. The problem is that they don’t know the source of the problem.

The devil is the source of our problems. He is the one that deceived the first man and woman. He told them that they did not have to obey God. They could do things their own way. They could be their own authority. Their believing the devil and their disobedience led to their sin. Their son Cain was the first murderer. Cain did not love God, “Cain, who was of the evil one slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deed were evil, and his brother’s were righteous” (3:12, NASB). There is a lot of hate in the world because people are under the influence of the evil one. They want to eliminate God in their lives so that they can have the things that the devil, the god of this world. We can see from Cain’s example that hate is the embryo of murder. “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (3:15).

We need God because we need to know God’s commandments. Our nation is being led by people that do not know God and His commandments. I do not mean that they do not know bible verses and attend church. I mean that they do not have God’s Spirit abiding in them. They do not obey His commandments. They want to compromise God’s truth with the wisdom of the world. The two are not compatible. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matthew 6:24, NASB). Our leaders, including some church leaders are leading the people to believe that they can water down God’s truth, disobey His commandments, and reject His authority and still have God’s favor and at the same time enjoy the things that the world offers. “They are from the world; therefore speak as from the world, and the world listens to them” (1 John 4:5, NASB).

In conclusion, if we want to stop the mass murders we must eliminate hate. Laws will not eliminate hate. Hate is of the devil. Love is of God and God is love. We can love one another only if we have the Spirit of God abiding in us. The Spirit helps us to obey God’s commandments. The Spirit gives us wisdom from God; a wisdom that does not come from the world. When we have God abiding in us we will not practice anything that God calls sin. Of course we fail to obey Him perfectly, but even when we stumble and fall, He gives us the will and the strength to get up and continue to walk in the paths of God. God is love and love conquers hate. We need God.