We are called to reflect the true love of man in all of mankind by imitating the exact nature of the One who invited us into His Family. This love is agape, which means affectionate regard, good will, and benevolence. It involves a willful direction toward others that does what is best for them. Love is of God and reflects His Spirit in us. As we exhibit it we more fully take on the nature of our Father. He who does not reflect God's love in his life does not know God. We perceive the love of God because He laid down His life for us. In like manner we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. If we love one another as God loves us then we take on the very nature of God and His love is perfected in us. This is called going on to perfection. Our love is made perfect as we actively use that love in our relationship with others. By this all will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another. Just as the keeping of the Sabbath is a sign of God's people so is loving one another. In this manner our love is made perfect. Because we are like Him in nature we can be bold when we stand before Him. A lack of confidence shows lack of love. If we have perfect love toward God we have no fear. For the fourth time John tells us that we love Him because He first loved us. This love is not our love but God's love in us. As the Father loves as the Son loves so are we to love. We are to work to love our fellow man with this type of love with which the Father loves us. If we hate our wives our husbands or our fellow workers we do not have the love of God. Our job as disciples of Jesus Christ is to become just like Him. In all we do we are to have His patience His kindness His longsuffering His wisdom His courage to stand up for what is right His thoughtfulness and concern and His willingness to serve others. In doing this we reflect the true love of God. Because lawlessness will abound the love of many will grow cold. The danger at this time can be a lack of application of what we know and what we know we should be doing. The second great commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Any person who lives near us is our neighbor. Our wives our husbands our children our friends our relatives our countrymen and even our enemies are our neighbors on this earth. We should not injure our neighbor physically his property or his reputation. We should not be selfish but seek to do him good. We should be tender giving and kind toward our neighbor even though his actions may not warrant it. We should not seek to harm him in any way. Attaining God's nature and love requires that we all keep His commandments. If we truly love God who has begotten us we will not harbor a grudge or anger towards others whom God has begotten but will truly work to love them. Love of God produces a desire to live God's way. If one is not working to overcome and obey God even though he may profess belonging to Him he is not being truthful to himself. For those who conscientiously observe and work to be obedient to Christ's doctrine the love of God is perfected and an intimate relationship truly is set up with Jesus and His Father. If true love exists in the heart it will be reflected in the way of living. Because of this we will know that we belong to Him. Above all things put on godly love.