A disciple of Jesus is one who loves God and loves others. The Apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth, saying that without love “I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (I Corinthians 13:1). An old saying declares that “love is a two-way street,” and God confirms the truth of those words when He moves John to write in his first letter to the churches, “We love because He first loved us. … whoever loves God must also love his brother” (I John 4:19,21). The sad truth is that no human being loves either God or their neighbor perfectly. Even we who have the Spirit of God within us, at times fail in our attempts to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our brothers and sisters in Christ as we ought. When, not if, that happens, we need to be reminded of God’s grace to us! The “chain” of love always begins with God’s unconditional love for His children. It is when you learn, through the work of God’s Spirit and the hearing of the Gospel, that you are loved by God, and that the “proof” of God’s love is in the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross … it is only then that you drink the pure spiritual water of God’s love in Christ and your new heart responds to God’s love by loving Him back! It is HIS love in you, like living water, that then spreads to others. Without God’s love you are and will be spiritually “dry,” without life. God’s love and grace to you is the motivation, the catalyst, that moves you to go and to make disciples, wanting others to learn what you have learned, to know what you now know, to experience what you have now experienced. The opportunity lies before everyone who, like the Samaritan woman, comes face-to-face with Jesus. No, you will not be perfect … yet … but His life will flow out from you to others, beginning with your brothers and sisters in Christ and going out from there. Love becomes more than words … it becomes a choice, a commitment. May God help each of us to truly know HIS love, and then love Him and one another!