1 John 4:20-21 (NKJV)
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother,
he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can[a]
he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him:
that he who loves God must love his brother also.
The premise of these verses is that someone who loves God
would also love his brethren who are also of Christ. For The Lord gave us a
command to love God and to also love one another. Therefore if a man claims not
to love his brother in Christ who is close and near to him, how can it be that
he loves God whom he has not seen or touched?
If love is the soul of Christian existence, it must be at
the heart of every other Christian virtue. Thus, for example, justice without
love is legalism; faith without love is ideology; hope without love is
self-centeredness; forgiveness without love is self-abasement; fortitude
without love is recklessness; generosity without love is extravagance; care
without love is mere duty; fidelity without love is servitude. Every virtue is
an expression of love. No virtue is really a virtue unless it is permeated, or
informed, by love. [Richard P. McBrien in Catholicism. Christianity Today, Vol.
40, no. 1.]
Some words given to us on love from The Bible are: I have a faith that can move mountains, but
have not love--I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender
my body to the flames, but have not love--I gain nothing!" 1 Corinthians
13:1-3 "Above all these things put on love, which is the bond of
perfectness." (Colossians 3:14.) "The end of the commandment is love
out of a pure heart" (1 Timothy 1:5.) "Above all things, have fervent
love among yourselves: for love shall cover the multitude of sins." (1
Peter 4:8.) "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved
you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34, 35.) "Owe no man
anything--but to love another: for he who loves another has fulfilled the
law." (Romans 13:9.) "Walk is
love, as Christ also has loved us." (Ephesians 5:2.) "Beloved, let us
love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been
born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because
God is love." (1 John 4:7, 8.)
The Bible tells us we are love like God and Christ who
loves us. We are to put love into actions.
Let us remember what Christ said about the lack of love
in our lives, "Then He will say to those on the left: Depart from Me, you
who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!
For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me
nothing to drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in; I was naked and
you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not take care of
Me." (Matthew 25:41-43.)
Mother Teresa once said, “The hunger for love is much
more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”
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