“No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.” (I John 4:12)

“No one has seen God at any time.” Not God in His fullness and glory, Whom Paul tells us “no man has seen or can see” (I Timothy 6:16). But John says here that there IS a way that people can “see” God — and amazingly enough, they can see Him through US:

“No one has seen God at any time” John said. But then he added: “If we love one another, God abides in us.” In other words, when we as Christians love each other with the love that God had for us first (:10) and gave us through His Holy Spirit (:13, Gal. 5:22), then the world that is watching DOES in a sense “see God” — through His love acting in and through His people.

The question is: are they seeing that? Is the world able to see God through your love for His people? If not, why not? Is the Spirit of God not IN you, producing His fruit of love? If not, then you are not a Christian at all. But if you are truly His, have you allowed something else to be more important to you than loving your brothers & sisters?  Many of us need to repent of our lack of love for each other, and see that it is not some “minor” thing; in fact is keeping other people from seeing God