For this is the message you heard from the beginning: we should love one another.

1 John 3:11

The encouragement to love is at the very center of our walk with God.  We read and know that God is love.  He is not hate.  Not suspicion.  Not qualified love.  No, John lets us figure out what he means by loving one another.   That is not easy.

I find it much easier to love Jesus than to love those who inhabit my world.  But there is no equivocation here, no formulas about how much we are allowed to hate without breaking the love rules.  No. We should love one another.  Full stop!

So, what happens when we carry hate toward another, and still love Jesus? I have no idea, to tell the truth, but I cannot simply sweep my lack of love under the rug.  I must love!  I am committed to love!  I am saved to love!  When I find myself not loving there is only one thing for me to do, repent of unlove and allow the love of Jesus to flow in and through me.

This is no doubt one of the hardest words of the Lord to practice.  Alas, John reminds us, it is the message that we heard from the beginning.   John is convinced that the love of Jesus that is ours by faith loves all persons, no matter what.  We may disagree with some things, but one thing stands always, I must love!