For a Sincere Love

“Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Peter 1:22-23 NASB1995)

This is speaking to Christians, to those who by God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ have denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who are now walking in obedience to his commands, in practice, and who are no longer walking (in conduct, in practice) according to the flesh and in sin. For faith in Jesus Christ, which is of God, and which is biblical, and which is not of human flesh, is obedient to our Lord, living to please God in holy living. For the truth of the gospel means death to sin and living to please God.

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

For a sincere love for our fellow Christians is not of human flesh and human thinking, reasoning, and desire. For we love, even if we are hated in return. We love even when we are despised, rejected, cast aside as unwanted, and are regarded as though we have no value at all to the body of Christ. We love when people tell lies about us and abuse and misuse us, and when they treat us like dirt under their feet for them to stomp on. No matter how they treat us, we still love them, in return, and we do good to them, and not evil.

For this kind of love is based in moral preference, not in human emotion. This kind of love is based in God and in his divine nature, and it prefers what God prefers, which is all that is righteous, morally pure, honest, upright, holy, faithful, and obedient to God and to his word. When we love with this kind of love we prefer to live for Christ, choosing his choices, and doing his will, in his power and wisdom, by the grace of God. We want to serve our Lord, and we want to love others with the love of God, as God loves us.

We are not to live like those who are in the world and who are not in relationship with God by faith in Jesus Christ. We are not to become like the world in order to win the world to our gatherings. For Jesus called us out of the world to be separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are to be being conformed to the likeness of nature of Jesus Christ, our Lord, via surrender of our lives to the Lord to do his will. So we are not to blend in with the world to be acceptable to the world, but we are to please God.

So, please understand that is the ultimate in love when we sacrifice our own reputations in order to tell people the truth of the gospel, in order that they may be of biblical faith in Jesus Christ whereby they die to sin and now live to God in obedience to his commands and in surrender to his will. It is not love if we lie to people and if we alter the gospel to make it more acceptable and less offensive to them. Yes, they may like us better (or not), but they may spend eternity in hell because we chose not to tell them the truth.

So the kind of love this is talking about loves the people of this world enough to tell them the full gospel message in order that, by faith in our Lord, they will deny self, die to sin, and follow our Lord in obedience wherever he leads them in doing whatever he has for them to do, for his glory and praise. And that won’t make us popular, even as Jesus was not popular, either, except for a time when the people were enjoying his miracles. But when he told them what was required of them, most of them walked away, and did not return.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

When in The Stillness  

An Original Work / September 26, 2011

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

When in the stillness of this moment,

Speak to me, Lord, I humbly pray.

Be my desire, set me on fire,

Teach me to love always.

Help me to walk in fellowship with You,

Listening to You; sit at Your feet.

Whisper Your words to me, 

Oh, how gently, guiding me in Your truth. 

While we are waiting for Your blessing,

Lord, in our hearts be King today.

Help us to live for you ev’ry moment,

List’ning to what You say.

May we not stray from your word within us,

Help us obey You, Lord, in all things,

Walking each moment, Lord, in Your presence,

Our offerings to You bring.

Help us to love You, Lord, our master;

Be an example of Your love,

Helping the hurting, lift up the fallen,

Showing them Your great love.

Teach them to love You, follow You always,

Bearing their cross and turning from sin;

Walking in daily fellowship with You,

Making You Lord and King.

https://vimeo.com/126984144

For a Sincere Love

An Original Work / January 10, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love