“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.” – 1 Peter 1:22

A great indictment against God’s people is that we are extremely poor at loving one another. This is a primary reason why our neighbor ignores our witness. They don’t believe it is true.

Peter exhorts us to love one another with great gusto. The meaning here is literally to stretch yourself out to aid another. It implies going out of your way, taking the initiative, seeking to be a material blessing as well as a spiritual blessing, and acting for the benefit of another when it is totally unexpected.

How can we do this? We can do great acts of kindness and mercy for each other because we have experienced such an amazing love through Jesus our Lord. We are a new creation made to love and serve God. It is out of this relationship that we can truly, sacrificially love one another.

This is especially true in the way we respond to people who we have wronged. Is it easier to get orange juice out of a potato than for you to ask for forgiveness and set about ways of restitution? Love is meaningless unless it can be demonstrated.

Loving one another is a way we authenticate for our neighbor the love that God has for us.