“Beloved, let us love one another…” (1 John 4:7).

Why? Why should I love another?

Well, let me think.

I should love another because it’s the noble thing to do and doing so makes me feel good.

So it’s about me. I am noble; I feel good. (Except neither of those is true all the time.)

OK, fine. I should love another because he needs it and because he likes it.

Hmmm. So it’s about the other person. She needs it; she likes it. (Except neither of those can be very motivational for me sometimes.)

Why, then, should I love another?

“…for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.”

It’s about God!

It’s about being born of God.

It’s about knowing God.

I know that I am God’s son. I know that someday I shall see Him. And then I shall be like Him.

What of it? I mean, what does that have to do with my life now?

According to 1 John 3:3, such hope causes me to purity myself:

“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”

The certainty that I am God’s son and the certainty of seeing Him someday causes me to avoid evil and say “No!” to sin. (Most of the time, I must add.)

Another way of purifying myself is reading the Bible, meditating on and living by God’s Word.

“…Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5:25,26).

That is a work I want Him to do in me!