Death to life.

Have you passed from death to life?

1Jn 3:13  Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

1Jn 3:14  We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

1Jn 3:16  Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

1Jn 3:17  But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

1Jn 3:18  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

TRUTH!

Have you passed from death to life?

We can know that we have passed from death to life because we LOVE our fellow man!

I'm not talking about LIKING the bad things others do. I'm not talking about enjoying being with others. I'm not talking about interacting with people other than comprehending a REAL need of another and filling that need out of love.

This is the LOVE of God. 

If God's love for us was based upon His liking what we do, well we'd have been destroyed long, long ago.  Just as we KNOW God does not like when we sin, we don't like when we sin, or others sin, how can we like it?! How can we like when others hurt us and do wrong to us? We, as Christ's, do not like when we are overcome by temptation.   We don't HAVE to like other's sinning -hurting themselves, or hurting others, hurting God in each case.

So liking others is NOT Loving them! It's not!

We have to be willing to LAY down our lives for those we might not even like- this is LOVE.

We have to be willing to HELP others in any way we can even those we do not like.

If we see someone in need and ignore them, we aren't loving them.

IF we choose to NOT love others, then we are choosing death for ourselves.

We must LOVE with the LOVE of GOD, not our own misguided concepts of love.

Please God, please Father, HELP us to love with YOUR LOVE.

In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior!

Amen.