1st John 2: 9-11

1 John 2: 9-11 “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.”

Christian love is not a feeling, but a choice. There will always be things about certain people we won’t like. But we shouldn’t treat them as irritants or look down on them. We shouldn’t think someone is totally unimportant compared to our intellect and prestige.

If anyone had a right to do that it would have been Christ, but He never did. He always had time for people and He always had compassion for people and He even loved the men who were nailing Him on to the cross.

We should never treat people like enemies or a nuisance. We should never ignore them or their needs. Our brother’s needs are our needs, his interests our interests. To serve him is why we are here and to fellowship with him is the true joy of life.
John says loving our brother allows us to progress in our spiritual life and hating him stops the progress.