Live to Love Scripture Encouragement John 15.19a

John 15:19a “If you were of the world, the world would love its own;” The word Jesus used for “love” in this verse has the same root as the word for “friends”. Philos, friends. Phileo, love. So we can understand that Jesus was saying that if the disciples were of the world, the world would be friendly toward them. Friendship with the world reveals that the world is your source. Friendship with Jesus reveals that God is your source. It is clear that John understood this principle because of what he wrote in his first epistle. “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:18-19). Then in 1 John 4:5-6, speaking of the same group who are antichrists and unfriended them, he wrote, “They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” Those who are of the world only befriend those who think like them. They have the same lusts of the flesh, lusts of the eyes, and boastful pride of life in this world. They love their lives in this world and so are friends with others who loves their lives in this world. This should speak to our hearts as it did the disciples’ hearts. We should not try to reach the world by being friends with them—showing them that we desire the same things in this world and boast of the same things as they do. If we live to love with Jesus, we can expect no one in the world, who is of the world, will consider us their friends. They won’t listen to the apostles’ writing or teaching, so they won’t listen to us either. Don’t let that discourage you. All who are His friends, will listen and will not reject your witness or love. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com