Deeper Reflection
GOD HAS COMMANDED US TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS fellow believers in Christ (vv.11, 23). We are spiritual brothers and sisters in God’s family. God abides in us by His Spirit who indwells us and we abide in God by keeping His commandments (v.24), including the commandment to love one another. When we do so, we please our heavenly Father and receive His blessings (v.22). We can only genuinely love one another when God’s love abides in us. Without God’s love in our hearts, we will only profess our love, but be unable to prove it by action and giving practical help that costs us something (vv.17-18). In fact, our Lord Jesus has shown us the greatest example of love by laying down His life for us, and He calls us to even lay down our lives for one another (v.16). Sacrificial love through self-giving service to one another is solid evidence of our genuine faith in Christ and that we really have a relationship with God. If we find ourselves unable to humbly serve our fellow believers because we envy or hate them, we are in deep trouble! In God’s sight, those who hate their brothers and sisters are murderers like Cain⁵⁴ (vv.12, 15). Would such people have an actual relationship with God and have passed from death to life (vv.14-15)? It should not surprise us that the world hates Christians for their beliefs (v.13), but it should surprise us that a Christian would hate another Christian. May the Holy Spirit grant us spiritual discernment to overcome any false teaching that opposes God’s Word (1 Jn 4:4).

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⁵⁴ See Genesis 4:8.