“Those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” We would like to think that the two are not joined. We think it is “just Jesus and me’; it never is and never can be. As much as we think it can be, we can never separate our relationship with God from our relationship with each other. It is part of the same piece of cloth. When it all works together it weaves a beautiful piece of tapestry that astonishes the eyes and warms hearts: my heart, your heart and God’s heart.
“Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also” (1 John 4:20-21 NRSV).
