I ran across a note in my Bible recently that I have written next to a verse in I John 3:15-18. The note says, “People need love most when they deserve it the least.” The verses say:

“Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (ESV)

Jesus laid down His life for us. We know that. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8. Many other scriptures talk about this.

We hear much today about “paying forward.” This idea of doing something for someone in hopes they will do for someone else is a great idea. I have been the recipient of this more than once. But the passage in I John is clear. We have a command to do this. It isn’t an option.

The reason I wrote the note beside the verse was to remind myself that we sometimes need to do for our spiritual brothers (and sisters) even when they are not very loveable. That command does not change just because of the behavior of that brother or sister.

Think of the comparison between our loving and doing for our fellowman and the love Christ had for us. He loved us when we were in sin. For some that could be drunkenness, addiction, adultery, fornication, lying, cheating, stealing, even murder. He loved mankind so much that He hung on a cross so that we might have eternal life. What could anyone do to us that is worse than mankind’s sin and disobedience against God? Even so, He loved us and continues to love us.

When we deserve love the least, God loves us. When mankind deserves love the least, our command is to “have compassion.” We are to love, not in word, but in deed and in truth.

We can say all day that we love someone, but it is when we do for him or her that we really show our love. The words of Jesus expressed in Matthew 25 speak to this more clearly than I can. He said:

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”

When we do for someone else, it is as though we have done it for the Lord. But remember, it is all about the heart. It is about our attitude toward those whom we help. We can’t do it grudgingly. We can’t do it to be seen of men. We must do it remembering what Christ did for us, even when we didn’t deserve it.

Ephesians 5:2 says, “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” If we walk in love, we will do as the Holy Spirit commands through the words of John.

Sandra Oliver