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Author: Nico Angleys, a member of the Servants of the Word, an international, ecumenical brotherhood of men living single for the Lord.

In his first letter, John writes, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7)

Love, love, love – it’s what we do!

The word love in our verse here is used FOUR times. That’s really quite a lot! The apostle called us beloved, and tells us that we should love one another. The word for love in the Bible is different from our normal use of the word in today’s everyday parlance. For John, love is an act of reverence to God, it is a choice, a decision, an action. He doesn’t mean a feeling or a positive warm emotion, he means a clear inner disposition that leads to action.

He gives three very good reasons for loving one another:

1. Love comes from God himself;
2. When we love we reveal our birth, namely that we are sons and daughters of God;
3. In loving others, we show that we know God.

Pick two people in your life today that you can express love to by serving their needs.

Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.