1 John 3:11-24

This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.
We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?
Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.
Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.
And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.

If you’ve been reading these thoughts for the week all along, you’ll have noticed that John keeps on going on about love! It seems like he really wants us to get this message – that we are to love one another.

We have the ultimate example of love in Jesus Himself. It seems fortuitous that John’s most famous phrase (John 3:16) is echoed here in 1 John 3:16 – “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us.” (It’s possible that John planned that sentence to fall where it did for that reason, but unlikely since chapters and verses were added later when the Scriptures were compiled).

What’s key here is that we are not to just pay lip service to love. This is really important for us as a church. All of our core values are expressed through love: Loving God, Loving Our Family, Loving Dewsbury & Beyond. These could end up just being nice things that we say, unless we back up our words with actions. Let’s not just talk about loving others; let’s actually do it!

Think about those three values in relation to your weekly routine.

• How can you show that you love God?
• What practical things can you do to love your church family?
• What can you do to show love to your frontline (Dewsbury & Beyond)?