IF YOU LOVE ME - Love the way I love

“Beloved, if God so loved us,” John wrote, “we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11). When John was too old to preach, he would be carried into the church on a stretcher and all he would say was, “Little children, love one another.” And when asked why he always said the same thing, John replied, “This is the Lord’s command. If we do this, it is enough.” As one commentator put it, “A person cannot come into a real relationship with a loving God without becoming a loving person.” The greatest assurance of salvation, the greatest proof of salvation, is a growing affection for Jesus Christ, and a growing love and affection for others.