L O V E

Loving One Another

"Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love." 1 John 4:7-8

The apostle John wrote three love letters to the First Century believers (aside from the Book of John).

In the excerpt above, he plainly shows how you can tell if you got born again, or born into the family of God, born in the Spirit and became a child of our heavenly Father.

Scriptures say that by their fruits you will know them. A true believer will produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit -- love (and joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control).

Yes, and the most telling of which is love.

God is love, so if you do not have love, you do not have God, and you do not have all the other fruits. Simple. Look for the fruit, and not the words.

The bible tells us, that Jesus said, many will say "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Yes and that is only because, outwardly they may seem right, but inwardly they do not have the Holy Spirit, who produces love which overflows to the outside, which can be seen and felt.

Continuing on what John wrote:

"God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.

If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers." 1 John 4:9-21