Love One Another

"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." -1 John 3:13-14

"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." -1 John 3:16

"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." -1 John 3:18-20

all this is pretty much from one passage but i just wanted to emphasizes what i thought were the most important takeaways.

i invite you all to mull over the first one cus, honestly, i cant wrap my brain around that entirely.

and the second part is really important to me, personally. because that is just the most extreme epitome of love. i've never been able to grasp just how amazing it was that Christ came to our world and suffered terribly and died for us. it's nuts. you know how people say "i'd take a bullet for him/her" and you think, danng that's crazy. think of that x12312903093 and it ALMOST exemplifies what God did for us. and then it says, we should turn around and show that same love to our brothers.

lastly, the 3rd part, i took it to be kinda like a reminder that you shouldn't be all talk and no action. definitely something i struggle with.. we need to take initiative in our lives and frankly, i think this is something that society as a whole needs work on. then it says that "God is greater than our hearts and knows everything". also a mind blower. i mean, the heart is the core of us and, obviously (hopefully..) we know that God is greater than us. then why do we complain about our trifling troubles? because we're having issues in ourselves? well God should supercede our problems. and honestly the phrase "follow your heart" should be changed to "follow your God".