Devotion

Commanded To Love
(1 John 4:20) Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
                         
“So, which is it?” I asked my sister.
“What do you mean?” she replied.
“You just said you’ll come with me to the meeting if no one from the church is there, because you can only deal with those folks on Sunday. I want to know - do you really love them or not?”
“You know what I mean,” my sister responded.
Based on our conversation, I can’t say that my sister has real love for our brothers and sister in Christ. How many of us go around speaking and feeling this way about our church family and friends? We can’t possibly have pure love for God when we don’t have it for each other. No matter what it takes, we’ve got to get this right. The way we love each other is exactly how we’re loving God. God deserves all of our love. Help us, dear Lord, to love each other the way we are supposed to – genuinely and unconditionally – just as You love us. Amen.