1 John 4:19-21 “We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” God wants us to love one another. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-39 “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'” Love God and love people are our tasks. He said that these two sum up all of the commandments. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 makes a comparison that shows the supremacy is love. “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.” This is amazing. We may put these gifts and actions at the top. They are great. Being charasmatic in the worship service. This blesses so many. Yet, if not motivated by love Paul compares it to an obnoxious instrument played at the wrong time. Then he speaks of prophecy. This enlightens the body. We hear from God. Then there is the gift of faith; believing when things seem impossible. So much so that a mountain of a problem is moved. However, if this isn’t done in love, then it’s worthless. Not even a little. It’s worth nothing. Then there is the generous person who feeds the poor and the martyr, who surrender his life for the cause of Christ. However, if love isn’t the motivation, then these are also worthless. The people in the previous passages would have gotten worldly awards. Schools would have been named after them. However, in God’s system of values, they are worthless. Those actions are important. However, being loving is more so. What does it mean to be loving? It doesn’t mean we feel emotionally drawn. That’s fine, but one can be loving without that. Jesus says in John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me”. Jesus ties obediance to love. This doesn’t sound loving by our cultural standards. Doing what God says indicates our love for Him. We may encounter someone in whom we don’t care for. Yet, we are to love them. We are to be respectful and to give preference to them. We are to do this out of obediance, not out of emotional prompting. We are to love others. We do it because The Lord tells us so. It’s a matter of lordship. He can’t be only our saviour. He must be our lord, also. Today’s passage says that we are a liar if we say we are a christian and hate our brother. We aren’t submitting to Christ’s command to love. It’s done out of obediance, not out of passion. He may cause feelings to follow, they may not. But we will grow in love and in His grace. Lord, thank You for love. Thank You that You help us in this process. Help us to yield to You and love.