Proof of Life

We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. - 1 John 3:14

When I was 16 years old I was in an auto accident, because the brakes failed on my mom's car. I actually passed out at the wheel (from fright, I guess), clipped a power pole, and ended up at the bottom of a small ravine. When I "came to," I was lying on the driver's side door, and immediately wondered if I was truly alive! I stood up, then pinched and slapped myself, simply because I wanted to be sure that I was indeed living! Realizing that I had escaped what seemed to me to be certain death was an amazing feeling.

The question that the Apostle John's words raise for each of us is this, "How can a person know that they are spiritually alive?" Is there a way to spiritually "pinch" yourself? John said, "Yes." A person can know that they are spiritually alive if they love (John used the Greek word indicating unconditional love) their "spiritual family."

Why is this proof of life? Love for the Body of Christ proves that we have the life of Christ, because unconditional love is only possible "in Christ," and if you possess it and express it, you have Him and He has you.

Love means to love that which is unlovable; or it is no virtue at all. - G. K. Chesterton