Two loves

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“Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” The author of 1 John invites us to put our love into action—to love with our lives. Love is a commandment: “love one another, just as [Jesus] has commanded us.” If we follow this commandment to love, then we are in communion with God: “All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.”

Sebastian Moore summarizes this passage as “no love of neighbor, no love of God.” We don’t know how to love God without our neighbor. We can say all we want about how much we think about God, how much we love God, how often we pray and worship God—but all of that matters insofar as it has something to do with our relationships with our neighbors. “How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?”