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Love One Another


1 John 3:16-24

Good News Translation (GNT)

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16  This is how we know what love is: Christ gave
   his life for us. We too, then, ought to give our
   lives for others!
17  If we are rich and see others in need, yet
   close our hearts against them, how can we
   claim that we love God?
18  My children, our love should not be just words
   and talk; it must be true love, which shows
   itself in action.

   Courage before God
19  This, then, is how we will know that we belong
   to the truth; this is how we will be confident
   in God's presence.
20  If our conscience condemns us, we know that
   God is greater than our conscience and that
   he knows everything.
21  And so, my dear friends, if our conscience
   does not condemn us, we have courage in
   God's presence.
22  We receive from him whatever we ask,
   because we obey his commands and do what
   pleases him.
23  What he commands is that we believe in
   his Son Jesus Christ and love one another,
   just as Christ commanded us.
24  Those who obey God's commands live in
   union with God and God lives in union with
   them.
   And because of the Spirit that God has given
   us we know that God lives in union with us.


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Taken from 'word-on-the-web' supplied by the
Scripture Union


Love One Another

    1 John 3:16-24


Ponder the amazing vision of being like Jesus, when we see him as he is.

Unpack some of what it means for us, in this life, to explore the meaning of love.

If you think of love as the kind of thing expressed on a Valentine card, this passage will bring you down to earth.

Our love is to be like that of Jesus. Obviously this is not the sentimental kind of love that we find in greeting cards, nor even the kind of love that we witness between a couple when they get engaged.

It's love of a kind that the world does not know much about. We often think of love as something that is elicited by people whom we find attractive, Christian love is altogether different.

It is directed to anyone and everyone we meet, those like us and those unlike us.

John is talking about giving ourselves selflessly to one another. Our love is not to be in words, but in our actions.

A young woman is in hospital with a serious illness. Some members of the congregation have shown genuine, creative love. One person provided single-serving portions of all kinds of different foods for her husband, who was coming home from work, late and hungry.

Someone else took a meal for her parents on the day of her surgery, knowing that they would not have the energy to cook that day.

What is special about this love, you ask? These people had thoughtfully put themselves into the shoes of the young woman's family. Real, down-to-earth, practical love, that sprang from identification with others.

May we all exercise that kind of creativity as we love the people around us.


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