Let us love one another I

1 John 4:7-11
We are called by God to love one another. Three times, in this short passage, are we called to love one another as disciples of Christ. This involves the following three elements:

1. CONCERN FOR ONE ANOTHER
1 Corinthians 12:24-26
Each part of the body should have equal concern for the other parts. Diciples are going through a lot. Some are struggling, others ailing and others mourning. They need to know that you and I are truly concerned. They need your concern and not just your charisma, i.e. not just your zeal and humour but your readiness to listen and care.

2 Corinthians 2:12,13
Paul passed up the opportunity for great evangelistic exploits, here, because of his concern to find Titus. Sometimes we're too busy looking for new people to baptize to be concerned for those already in the kingdom. This is not right.
People don't care how much you know until they know that you care.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, let us feel and show concern for one another.

2. ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Because we have such a great and glorious heavenly hope, let us encourage one another, so that we can all get there together.
How can we encourage disciples around us (?) -- by focusing them on God, reminding them of the hope of heaven, showing them God's promises in Scripture, expressing our vision for them, thanking them for different things, complementing them on their strengths. Too often we highlight people's weaknesses and ignore their wonderful strengths.

1 Thessalonians 5:4-11
We are called to put behind us our life of sin, and live pure, upright and godly lives. For us to achieve that we need the encouragement of others, and others need encouragement from us.

Different things happen every day to every single disciple to break their hearts, crush their dreams, frustrate their efforts, stifle their faith and lead them into temptation. That is why it is so crucial that we encourage each other.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to encourage one another.

3. SERVE ONE ANOTHER
Galatians 5:13-15
We are to use our freedom to serve one another. Serving one another involves noticing others' needs and then being kind and considerate enough to help meet those needs.

We sometimes put so much time into academic and career advancement, and so little into serving the disciples around us. We can serve the disciples around us by giving advice; asking, "what can I do?"; offering our services, time, effort talent, or money, according to the particular need and our ability.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to serve one another.

2 Thessalonians 1:3
As a child of God and disciple of Christ, let this be said you, that your faith is growing and your love is increasing.