There is a recurring word in First John – "Love". Probably the most famous words from the Bible are found in this letter – "God is love". But what is left out is the first part of that verse (I John 4:8), and that is "If you don't love others, you cannot possibly love God, for…" <\/p>\n
John, over and over again says that as believers or followers (you choose the word), we are to love one another (that was fellow believers). His letter was to the church or body of Christ – Christians. His "love" theme is repeated over and over. <\/p>\n
His love message was in addition to "watch out for deceivers", but with the repetition of the two thoughts, you cannot just walk away. John does not leave us any wiggle room for things like "Well, I just don't like them", or "They are not doing right." He doesn't leave us room to say we don't feel like loving someone.<\/p>\n
Yes, there are words like "ought" and "should", but I can't help but be left with his words in Chapter 4 verse 21 – "the one who loves God should love his brother\/sister also." It's kind of like saying to someone driving toward the edge of a cliff, "you should stop now." Maybe you have a different definition for the words "should" and "ought", but then again, to each his or her own – you find the real meaning in God's Word.<\/p>\n
Let's see if I can get out of loving other believers because they dress differently or smell bad or don't look like me. Maybe it would be easier if they weren't interested in music, or computers, or they liked Macs instead of PCs. Oh, good, they like science fiction books, and I don't – good answer!<\/p>\n
Or is it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is a recurring word in First John – "Love". Probably the most famous words from the Bible are found in this letter – "God is love". But what is left out is the first part of that verse (I…
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