Do I show selfless love?

I give a new commandment to you that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another." - John 13:34-35 (ESV)

As transformed followers of Jesus Christ, our authentic faith is manifested in our selfless love for others. In 1 John 4, John gives us five reasons why a true Christ-follower executes this life with selfless love for others.

1. God is the essence of love.

Beloved, let us [unselfishly] love and seek the best for one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves [others] is born of God and knows God [through personal experience].
- 1 John 4:7 (Amplified Bible)

2. To follow the supreme example of God's sacrificial love in sending His Son for us.

By this, the love of God was revealed in us, that God had sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him.
- 1 John 4:9 (NASB)

3. Love is the heart of a Christian witness.

No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.
- 1 John 4:12 (ESV)

4. Love is the Christian's assurance.

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
- 1 John 4:16 (NKJV)

5. Love is the Christian's confidence in judgment.

In this [union and fellowship with Him], love is completed and perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]; because as He is, so are we in this world. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should also [unselfishly] love his brother and seek the best for him. -
1 John 4:17,21 (Amplified Bible)

Love is very patient and kind,
never jealous or envious,
never boastful or proud,
never haughty or selfish or rude.
Love does not demand its own way.
It is not irritable or touchy.
It does not hold grudges and will hardly even notice when others do it wrong.
It is never glad about injustice,
It rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
If you love someone, you will be loyal to them no matter the cost.
You will always believe in them, always expect the best of them, and always stand your ground in defending them. - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (Living Bible)

Would others describe me as a person that executes life with selfless love for others?

Little children (believers, dear ones), let us not love [merely in theory] with a word or with tongue [giving lip service to compassion], but in action and truth [in practice and sincerity, because practical acts of love are more than words]. By this we will know [without any doubt] that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart and quiet our conscience before Him - 1 John 3:14-19 (Amplified Bible)

Love is patient; love is kind
Never boasts, not full of pride
Always hopes, always trusts
The evidence of Christ in us.
- Carolyn Arends

Be Encouraged to grow in Christ-likeness by emulating selfless love for others.

-Jeffrey Thornton 





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