"Anyone who loves God must also love their brother [and sister]."The word "must" there throws me as if the correct word was not used properly for this sentence, because of what it says earlier "Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother [or sister] is a liar".If we love God but do nothing to tend to the welfare of our brother then we don't love God. In other words, "If you don't do this, then your certainly not doing that". If I say I love my wife and don't tend to her welfare and needs, I don't love her.What a lovely post you've brought to this forum my brother, I was excited over it's contents, 1 John 1:4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. I think it pleased the Father Learjet that you've stopped suddenly and would not move forward until you've received some revelation like Jacob holding on to the Angel and would not let Him go until he blessed him. I like that.I also think that God was showing something that we all seem to lack in our own lives and that is we cannot love our brother on our own, we need this everlasting joy as you put it from the Lord to be able to see with a different set of eyes that the people that we see God loves every last one of them.I think it's time that we all stop at this verse and wait our 5 days and see what happens.Praise God!!
Good words, everyone. In addition to these passages, I also have been thinking about the opening words of I Corinthians 13. So often, the "charity" or "love" in this passage is thought of as a superficial concept. Given that it takes place between I Corinthians 12 (where Paul speaks of the Body of Christ) and I Corinthians 14 (where Paul speaks of the order of the gathered Church assembly), this chapter seems directed at the "love" that we feel for one another in the Body of Christ.Oh -- the futility of our "tongues," "prophecy" and "words of wisdom" that are spoken (or written) from a heart where love is not evident! If we can just get a hold of this "agape" love and make it evident in all that we say, write or do, I imagine that the unity of Christ would cause us to be more effective ambassadors to this lost world.
_________________Christopher
