Commandment to Love

It’s simple to declare our love for God on social media. There is also a wide range of Christian items, such as bumper stickers, available to express and communicate our love for God to others. However, John reminds us that confessing our love for God isn’t just for show. How can we love God, whom we cannot see, if we do not love our visible brother?

We have a clear command from Christ: Loving God means loving others—we have to embrace both. We may be good at memorizing scripture or have never missed a Sunday service to show our love for God, but these deeds may be the fruits of our labor rather than the fruits of the Spirit. John 13:35 says, By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

We can’t practice agape-love without first engaging in philia-love. The power to love comes from being born of God and abiding with Him. It is still a choice to tap into that resource and be a conduit for God’s love to go out to others.