1 John 4:7 reads, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”
Let’s take a moment to define what God’s love is, and the definition that I think best expresses its meaning is this: self-sacrificial helpfulness.
Now consider this: because God is love, where self-sacrificial helpfulness is, God is.
Now think of how near he is to any one of a us at any time: that is to say, anytime — in our thoughts, prayers, words, or actions — we self-sacrificially disregard our interests in favor of benefiting someone else, God could not be nearer. He is right there, manifestly present in that act. Love comes from God. It is his essential nature. So we are acting literally surrounded by and in God.
This gives rise to an answer we could give ourselves whenever we feel unsettled and start wondering where God is. Well, he’s as close to us as the next self-sacrificially helpful thing we could do for someone. So we can have him instantly right there with us, acting in us and through us, if we will just go and do it.
