“A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34). It doesn’t get any stronger than that; we are commanded to love one another and not only love but to love as Christ loves us! The apostle James taught us that: “If ye really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well” (James 2:8). Loving our neighbor is a royal law, a cardinal command! This love of God is an unconditional love.

Although we received the love nature of God when we were born again (Rom 5:5) unconditional love does not come naturally to us. This means that we must develop or grow this love nature that we have; we need to be intentional about love and make decisions to put love into practice. Time spent with God who is love (1 John 4:8) and reading, studying and meditating on love scriptures will help us to do that.

Immediately after Jesus gave the command to love, in the gospel according to John, he also said that it was in this love for our neighbor that others would recognize us as Christians (John 13:34-35).

When we put love into practice then we will draw others to Christ. If the church universal started truly acting in love there would be a mighty revival. Love is a powerful force and in 1 Corinthians 13:2 we are told that without it we are nothing.

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