1 John 3:11–20 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

Love is a recurring theme in John’s writings. In the Gospel that bears his name, he calls himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” He was not trying to elevate himself above others, but was stating the reality in his life: he knew he was loved by Jesus, and he wants others to know that, too.

One of the consequences of following Jesus and knowing His love will be that the world will hate you. They don’t understand who Jesus is and what He has done for you, so they ridicule and criticize what they do not understand.

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

Jesus set the standard. He showed us how to love, even though those He came to save hated and rejected Him. He just kept loving. A fallen woman at a well. A tax collector. A bunch of fishermen. A Roman centurion. A woman caught in adultery. Even those who would betray Him. In fact, in every encounter recorded for us in Scripture, we see Jesus acting out of love. Even when cleansing the Temple. His love wants only the best for us. He is the example of how to love.

So how do you lay down your life for others? That does not just mean dying for someone else. You lay down your life for others when you put their needs ahead of your own. When you share your material wealth with those in need. When your words and actions lead you to be the hands and feet and voice of Jesus to them.

Recently I was talking to a young lady and she was talking about her pastor and said, “I don’t see Jesus in him!” What a terrible, stinging indictment. That should not be. It caused me to do some soul-searching and ask myself how often that could have been said about me!  What about you? Could someone say that about you? Hopefully not.

The 4th-century theologian Jerome tells a story about the Apostle John. John was old and frail, unable to walk, so his disciples would carry him into the gathering of believers on the Lord’s Day. Every week these were his words to the congregation: “Little children, love one another.” This went on week after week, until at last, tired of hearing the same thing repeated, his disciples asked him, “Master, why do you always say this?”  “Because,” John replied, “it is the Lord’s command, and if this only is done, it is enough.”

“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

When we love others, we are letting them see Jesus.