According to Jesus, the two commandments are alike. 1 John 4:20-21 echoes Jesus’ thought by saying:

“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And we have this commandment from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

If you go to church just for your communion with God, without caring about others, you have missed your worship. In John 21, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him. To Peter’s positive response, Jesus replied, “Feed my sheep.” In other words, if you love me, take care of your brothers, nurture them, watch over them, do good to them if you truly love me.

God does not weigh your love for Him based on the tears you shed in your prayers, but based on the attitude you have towards the people around you. On the other hand, the interest we show in others and philanthropic actions that can be interpreted as love are not love if they do not stem from our intimacy with God. In other words, it is impossible to love your neighbor if you do not love God.

Loving God and loving your neighbor are two sides of a coin. They are inseparable. True love comes only from God. It is He who gives it to you so that you may give it to others. What am I saying? Feeling romantic emotions for others without loving God is equivalent to not truly loving them. As I said, divine love is not an emotion. You can even pity the poor, give all your possessions to them, without expressing love:

“And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:3)

God’s love and love for one’s neighbor: the two inseparable sides of the same coin.

This text is an excerpt from the book “UNSATISFIED? Enter the dimension of the Bride of Christ” written by Mohammed SANOGO.

We invite you to read the following article “The characteristics of divine love to develop“.