LOVE

1 John 3:24—

“Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”

1 John 4:11-12—

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”

1 John 4:15—

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

We know God abides in us through his Spirit; God only abides in us if we love one another. The Spirit enables us to love—God is love (1 John 4:8). God’s love in us, enables by himself, helps us to obey his commands and love one another, so that he can abide in us. And we’ll know he abides in us because we love one another, love not from us but from his love-giving Spirit.

And what is love? “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16).

So we know that loving one another means dying to self, living not for our own needs or desires but for the needs and desires of others. It is self-sacrifice on every level; it is giving to the core of our being, giving inspired by Christ and enabled by his love at work in us. For it is His death for our sake that introduced us to love, real love. And the life we gained through his death becomes a life of death to self, love for others—love of God, by God, and for God.