1 John 4:7–21 (NIV)
Why does God care if we love each other? I mean, it doesn’t earn us His love because there is nothing that we can do to earn His love and just like we talked about last week when we were talking about our worth to God, we can’t do anything to lose his love for us, so what does it matter?
John says that we love because he first loved us. So, God loves us first. Then we love God because of His love for us. Because of the love from God we feel, we, in turn love others who are then able to feel God’s love from us and begin loving God in return.
Unlike the world where, when things roll down those things stop at the bottom, God’s love is different. It comes down to us, we give it out to others, and then they send love back to God.
But, here comes the sticky part. 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.