from the first letter of John, chapter 4, verses 7-12

My dear friends, we must love each other.
Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life.
We are now God’s children, and we know him.
God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him.
God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life.
Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us.
God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven.
Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we must love each other.
No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us,
and his love is truly in our hearts.

+ + +

theres not a lot of lovey dovey hippy Jesus stuff in the bible,
so you have to really embrace it when you come across it.
ironically this comes just a few pages before John’s Revelation
(aka the scary sci fi end of the world)
so in a way its the warm kiss and tender hug before the ish goes down
something to remember when the lights go out
and the monsters dive, screaming through the clouds.

the thing about Love though, is John’s not talking about loving your dog
or your girlfriend or your mom
he’s talking about everyone because we are all reflections of God
thus if you do not like God in disguise, how are you gonna love God IRL?
it’s all practice. it’s all training your heart.
when you see someone walking down the street
or better: driving down the road
are you loving or hating them?

i for one know i have some work to do here,
which is why this passage spoke to me today.