Sunday evening at Hopewell Mennonite Church was “impromptu” for the first hour of the service.

I was called on to answer the question “What is love?” Briefly. Say in 2-3 minutes.

So ten minutes later (give or take two), the moderator called me forward to speak my piece.

Love is the capacity to live for the good of another.

A measure of this has been given to all people. Back before creating man, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).

And in 1 John 4:10 we’re reminded of God’s own demonstration of love: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

There’s your answer to what love is.

God calls us to that.

And from Creation He stamped us with His image…and so gave us the capacity to live for the good of another.

(If I talked for more than two minutes, it wasn’t by much. But then, I was supposed to be super brief. And I had little advance warning. And my head wasn’t feeling well at all. Upshot: Thank God for His help.)

That Brother

He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

1 John 2:9

Reading:

1 John 2:7-17

Light or darkness — where do I live?

Is there any brother I do not love?

Am I protecting any sin of mine?

What is my relationship with Him that is from the beginning?

Do I fight against the wicked one?

Where does God’s Word fit in my life?

What is my relationship with the world and its things?

How strong is my commitment to and zeal for doing the will of God?

“And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:17).

[The Scriptures say in 1 John 2:8 -- The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth]
from 1 John 2:8