“17 In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, for we are as He is in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. 19 We love because He first loved us.

20 If anyone says, I love God, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen. 21 And we have this command from Him: The one who loves God must also love his brother.”
1 John 4:17-21
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I can’t help but wonder if John was remembering the words of Jesus found in Matthew 5 when He was writing this passage. It’s easy to love people who love us back, and it’s easy to be angry with those who do not. But that isn’t the love that we have been called to live in and share. Jesus said this,

Matthew 5:43-48
“43 You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Dont even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Dont even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

We cannot claim to love God, yet show hatred for others. We cannot claim to live in His love, and hold disdain in our hearts for another human being. We have been freed from petty, competitive emotional states, we have been given insight into what really matters in life, and we have been given a portion of the heart of God when it comes to how we see others. We are called to a perfect, unconditional love. A love that does not require that we be loved back, a love that still loves even when we are pushed against, ridiculed and mocked. The same love that compelled Christ to remain on the cross, to endure hardship and scorn is the love that we are to carry with us as we walk through this life. And we cannot walk in His love and hold hatred in our heart for another human being.

We don’t have to agree with them or condone their activities or lifestyles, but we do need to love them as Christ does. It’s easy to love people who love us back, but to show love to others who show us nothing but disregard? That is humanly impossible, our pride gets in the way. But in Christ, in the love that He first loved us with? In that love we can also love those who persecute us, revile us and seek our distruction, just as Jesus did. In Christ, we can love those who are misguided, like the rich young ruler. In Christ, we can love and forgive, like Jesus did those who crucified Him. And if Jesus can love us, who rebel and sin against Him, disregarding His sacrifice for selfish personal gain, then we can love those who wrong us as well.

God’s love is so much higher than any cheap imitation of love that we can muster. His love is perfect in every way. So when John, the Holy Spirit speaking through him, says to be perfect in our love, we know he is imply echoing the words of Jesus who told us to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. We must rely on Him to love like this through us with that same love that He first showed us. This is how we are to GoLove the world, not in our strength or power, but in His alone, and not just when it is easy, but all the time. This is love.