We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. 1 John 4:19-21
If I asked you “Do you love Jesus”? Many of you might say “Yes” or if I ask you “Are you a Christian”? Many of you would say “Yes”, but why? Why do you love Jesus? Why are you a Christian at all? Well the scripture is clear, we love Jesus because He loved us first! This is the amazing love of God, that he pursued us first , before we had any care for God whatsoever. It’s by the love of Christ you are saved, not by ourselves.
As the Apostle Paul said “God demonstrated His love towards us, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8) I want you to really meditate upon what was just said there, while we still hated God, while we were still dead in our sins, Christ already willingly laid down his life to pay for our sins, God demonstrated His love towards us, He loved us first before we could even possibly have loved Him. That’s the amazing love and grace of God!
Now Jesus summed up The Law by saying “Love God and Love Your Neighbor”this is the fulfillment of The Law(Matthew 22, Mark 12) If you truly love God, because He loved you first, you must also love your neighbor as yourself, otherwise you are a liar and a hypocrite. Notice what the Apostle John says here “If a man says I love God, and hates his brother, he is liar” You can’t say you are a Christian and hate the Church, you can’t say you love Christ and hate this person and that person, the Holy Spirit is not within you.
Your question is “Why should I love my neighbor”? Your neighbor might not “love” you, in fact your neighbor might hate and persecute you. But remember we love because Christ loved us first. We don’t deserve the love of God but He loves us anyway, we don’t deserve the grace and mercy of God, but he gave it to us anyway. The same, your neighbor might not deserve to be loved, but love them anyway because Christ has loved us first. As Jesus said “Love your enemies and bless those who curse you” (Matthew 5:44)
As the Apostle John said “He who loves God, must love his brother also” Did you forget that you were dead in your sins when Christ brought you back to life? Did you forget you were the prodigal son living with the pigs, until the Father called you home? We love because Christ has loved us first, Amen!
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