Love (1 John 4 v 7-12)

 In 1John 4 v 7-12  we have the word love mentioned 9 times ,loves 1 time,and loved 3 times,no wonder john is called the apostle of love.Verse 7 starts with these words,'Dear friends, let us love one another.'It is in his epistle he puts puts a great stress on loving our fellow believers.In fact he says that,'Whoever claims to love God yet hates  a brother or sister is a liar'.( 1Jn 4 v20)How much do you love your fellow Christians?in iJn 3 v16, we read,'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 and sisters'.He also goes unto to say,'If anyone has material poeeession's and sees  a brother and sister in need  but has no pity on them, how can the love of God  be in that person? Dear Children,let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth' (1Jn 3 v17-18)So three things are emphasised in these verses .( 1) That loving God and hating your fellow believer,makes you a liar,it is going against what  our Saviour commanded  (John 13v 34) (2) Love must  manifest itself by loving kindness,by helping those in need  1Jn 3 v 17-18,it is James who says ,'show me your faith,so John stresses how vital it is by showing our love by helping our fellow Chistians in their times of need,and not just with  empty words.(3)Last but not least,our love is not given out on merit v7 tells us clearly tells us ,what that means,'This is love: not we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning  sacrifice  for our sins'.