Christian Commentary Encouraging Devotions

Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.

This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life.

But a person who has no love is still dead.

Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart.

And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.

We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us.

So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.

If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion

—how can God’s love be in that person?

Let’s not merely say that we love each other;

let us show the truth by our actions.

Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.

Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.

If we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence.

And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.

And this is his commandment:

We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,

and love one another, just as he commanded us.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.

So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment,

but we can face him with confidence because

we live like Jesus here in this world.

If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister,

thinking nothing of it, he is a liar.

If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see?

The command we have from Christ is blunt:

Loving God includes loving people.

You've got to love both.

I John 3,4