June 19
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1 JOHN 4
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. – 1 John 4:19-21
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1 JOHN 4 TRUE MANIFESTATION OF LOVE
A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA
God is love and all who loves God exudes his character
To love God is to follow his will and his commandments
The reason why we can love is because he loved us first
We can never boast that love comes solely from us
You cannot say you love God and hate a brother
That will be lying to yourself and to others
If you cannot love someone whom you see in the flesh
How can you love God whom you can’t see physically
Will you believe someone who claims they love when they can’t show it?
That is only lip service which do not mean anything for it is just hypocrisy
The true manifestation of love is to walk in his Spirit
The Holy Spirit will lead you to give praise to Jesus Christ
He will teach you how to live out of your flesh which is sinful
He will lead you out of darkness and tendencies to do things hateful
To say you love God would mean that you will commune with the saints
You will be a hypocrite if you live life on your own and stay alone and isolated
The Lord God commanded us to love one another because we love him
God sees your heart so if you don’t genuinely love your brother, you will sin
So, let us love one another just as how God loves us
If we love ourselves, we also ought to love our brothers.
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REFLECTION
• Why is it a challenge to love God according to these following verses?
• Share some experiences that make it difficult to love your sisters or brothers in Christ.