Living and Loving

“I tell you the truth, those who listen to My message and believe in God who sent Me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.” (John 5:24)


If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to eternal life. But a person who has no love is still dead. Anyone who hates another Christian is really a murderer at heart. And you know murderers don’t have eternal life within them. We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters. But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help – how can God’s love be in that person? (1 John 3:14-17)

John echoes Jesus’ teaching that whoever hates another person is a murderer at heart (Matthew 5:21,22). Christianity is a religion of the heart; outward compliance alone is not enough. Bitterness against someone who has wronged you is an evil cancer within you and will eventually destroy you. Don’t let a “bitter root” (Hebrews 12:15) grow in you or your church.

Real love is an action, not a feeling. It produces selfless, sacrificial giving. The greatest act of love is giving oneself for others. How can we “give up our life”? By serving others with no thought of receiving anything in return. Sometimes it is easier to say we’ll die for others than to truly live for them – this involves putting others’ desires first. Jesus taught this same principle of love in John 15:13.


Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. Loving God means keeping his commandments and really, that isn’t difficult. For every of child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory. And the ones who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:1-5)

When we become Christians, we become part of God’s family, with fellow believers as our brothers and sisters. It is God who determines who the other family members are, not us. We are simply called to accept and love them. How well do you treat your fellow family members?

Jesus never promised that obeying him would be easy. But the hard work and self-discipline of serving Christ is no burden to those who love him. And if our load starts to feel heavy, we can always trust Christ to help us bear it (see Matthew 11:28-30).