1 Thessalonians 2:8 English Standard Version (ESV) So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
Sometimes it is difficult to grasp just how much God loves us. We believe that Christ died to save us from our sins, that was two thousand years ago. We might have just come to the realization of that love in the past few years but the concept of love and all that loves does is in the present. If it were not our faith would fade and we would return to our beggarly ways.
What allows us to feel the love of God? It is the fellowship in the saints which has the most obvious and relevant impact of love. So much of Paul’s epistles lays out the conduct of the church age related in how we treat one another.
John 13:34-35 English Standard Version
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
If the abiding love of Christ is not present in the body of believers that surround us, then something is desperately wrong. The definition of abiding love is selfless. We have to love one another or our faith is not in Christ. It is no longer a commandment, it is who we are in life.
Finding our place in a large family seems difficult in the natural. In God’s family we are to be met with open arms, embraced and made to feel like a valued part of the family of God.