Love

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
-First John 4:20 (King James Version)

When you get down to the nitty gritty of your life, do you truly love others? Do you truly love those whom the world deems unloveable? Do you harbor any bitterness or anger at someone else?

John is challenging his readers with an important statement and an important question. First, the statement, "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar:" So many of us say we love God. So many people today claim to love God, but they don't radiate that love to a lost and hurting world. If we claim to love God, that love must be shown toward others. Now, his question, "For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" How can we love God, whom we haven't visibly seen, and not love others, who are made in His likeness? 

Probably the greatest verse on love in the Bible is First Corinthians 13:8, "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." Charity means love. Paul says that "Love never faileth." Love, true love, will never fail you. Then he goes on to compare things. "but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." Look at Paul's list here. In comparison to love, all these things shall faith. Prophecies, languages, knowledge will all fail, but love will never fail.

As a child of God, you have the love of God in you. The unconditional love of God. Are you showing that same kind of love to others? Think About It.