May Our Love Be Contageous

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love… We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:7-8, 19-21)

John’s commandment to the churches echoes Jesus’ commandment to his disciples: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Jesus combines his commandment of loving your brothers and sisters in Christ with the idea of loving others as well.

Love is the mark of a true disciple. If God is love, and we are letting God reign in our lives, then how is this love overflowing from us into the lives of other people? How are we making a difference in our community? Are we taking care of the poor, the destitute, the disabled, and the broken?

When we are truly loving people, we begin to make a difference in our world. That could be people outside of the church, or people inside of it. Think about it: how many of us have treated someone in our church family poorly? Maybe you spoke behind their back, or argued in anger, or lusted over them, or cursed them... Maybe it is simply excluding others from our group. You aren't like us, so we wouldn't be hurt if you just went away... Oh, we'll never tell you to your face, but we sure won't do anything to make you feel welcome, either.

As Christians, we cannot act like the world. We are called to love and unity because of our faith in Christ Jesus. We must put behind the things of the world (jealousy, backbiting, arrogance, hatred) and focus instead on building one another up in love. I am not sure when we get to heaven if God is going to be concerned as much about our complete doctrinal understanding as much as he is with the answer to this question: "How well did you love your brothers and sisters, and how well did you love and serve the world in my name?"

When we are truly loving people, if we are truly making a difference in the lives of people, then others will begin to take notice. They won't be able to help it. It will be infectious, a viral movement spreading to people all around us.

Much like what we see in this video. It starts out small, but by the time others join in and we are working together in perfect unity and harmony, others begin to want to join in. May our love be infectious, and may we always be "viral" in our world!