In a fairy tale riddle entitled "The Magic Mirror" by Kristen R. Morsy (Cricket, 8 April 1981), a troll asks a boy named John to name the strongest bond in the world. John thought and thought. He said to himself, "If my brother the sailor were to guess this riddle, he would say the strongest bond in the world is the horizon. It joins the sky and sea together and gives us our place in the world. If my brother the farmer were to guess this riddle, he would say the strongest bond in the world is the rainbow. It joins the rain and sun together so that the crops can grow. But I guess the strongest bond in the world is the bond of love. Not even death can destroy it." You see, love is dynamic. It is a living thing. It is a force for to transform us. Anyone touched by true love will never be the same again. That’s why love is the second test of Christian discipleship. Not just any love – Christian love.

Christians should be different. Often this difference is defined in many outward ways. What sets us apart should be that we reflect the character of Jesus Christ. While this means quite a number of things, the distinguishing characteristic of this character is love. So what is love doing in us? How is God changing us by this power of love? What difference can love make in your life?

It all begins with God. God is love. It is because of this love that God sent Jesus Christ into the world. It is because of this love that Jesus Christ died for us, forgiving us even of our lovelessness. It is because of this love that God sent His Spirit to draw us to Jesus and to dwell in our hearts by faith. We love because He first loved us. And only when we are wrapped up in that love and grow in that love can we show that kind of divine love to others.

One morning a pastor entered his church to meditate and pray. He heard sounds coming from the sanctuary, single notes, then chords, then combinations. Quietly he walked into the empty church to watch the organ tuner at work. "Sir, how do you tune all these pipes to harmonize perfectly?" The organ tuner replied, "I first tune middle C and then all the rest from there on." That gives us a picture of what John in talking about in our text. First tune yourself with Christ and his love, then tune everything else with Him – your thoughts, your actions, your words and your relationship. There will be no discord; there will be no disharmony.

Love comes from God and transforms us. As I said before, it is impossible to be encountered by the love of God and left unchanged. We have all felt the power of human love and have been impacted by it. Our lives have been altered by even simple acts of love and kindness. Think of the transforming power of God’s perfect love.

In what ways does love transform us? First, love transforms us into the likeness of Christ. John says in verse 16, God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. He goes on to say at the end of verse 17, that in this world we are like him. This is what God is after in each of us. This is, in fact, the goal for every Christian life. To be transformed into the image of Christ is the purpose God has for your life. The power of the Holy Spirit living in you is focused on transforming you into the likeness of Christ so that we can love as Christ loves.

This kind of love is heavenly. The world can’t understand it. Christian love doesn’t love a person because he is good or beautiful or nice. Christian love loves everyone. It fulfills the one great commandment of God, "You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with you mind. Love your neighbor as yourself." Christian love loves even the enemies. It does good to those that hate and prays for those who are spiteful. Everyday we will encounter people who are far from appealing. Did Jesus like the personalities of the Pharisees, the publicans and the Roman soldiers? I don’t think so. And he certainly didn’t approve of their doings. Yet he loved them all and prayed for them. That is Christian love.

This kind of love not only inspires and transforms us, it also empowers us. There is something about love that we must never forget. It is the key to understanding how to receive love. It is the key to understanding how to live in love. Always remember that love is found in God. To say it a different way – the source of love is God. In verse 19, we read, We love because he first loved us.

This is a point which is vital. You see, if we try to love in our own power, we will fail. We just don’t have enough love in us. Jesus says, "Without me you can do nothing." If we are going to be successful at loving, it will be because we respond to the one who first loved us. And this is the key to everything. Do you need more love? Then draw from the wells of God’s love. God has a river of love that He wants to pour into us and let flow through us. We are much like the faucet on a sink. The faucet is not the source of the water. It merely releases the water. It doesn’t manufacture water. It channels water. If you want water, just turn on the tap. The challenge for us as Christians is to stay hooked up to the source of love and turn on the tap. Let the love of God flow.

Love comes from God. God is love. Love is action. Love is doing something for someone else. We can’t say merely: "God is love!" No, we need to go on and say "God is love for He sent His one and only Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins." We need to says, "God is love for He gives me everything I need for this body and life. He preserves and protects me."

Love is displayed by loving. Another way of saying this is that the evidence of love is loving one another. In verses 20 and 21 we read, If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

What John is saying is that true love is not shown in words, it is shown by deeds. He gives us the illustration of someone claiming he loves God on the one hand and on the other hand, he hates his brother. He tells us this person is nothing but a liar. And, of course, the reason why this is so is because love is displayed by loving. The evidence of love is loving one another. God has given us His love, not simply so we can love Him, but so we can love each other. We must start with the brother or sister we can see.

And this is where the real test comes, does it? It is easy to say, "I love God." It is even easy to say, "I love humanity." But it is hard to love certain people with whom we live. I remember someone saying, "I love humanity – its people I can’t stand." That is the problem. It’s easy to say that we love the Christians in China. It would be harder if we had to live with them. But this is where God’s love can truly be seen.

This is the challenge for us. What are the practical ways in which we can begin to show our love to one another? What acts of kindness can we do? What encouraging word can we say? What act of service can we perform? Think about that person you’ve had a hard time loving. Is there something you can do to show your love to that person in a practical way? If we accept this challenge, I guarantee that God’s love will make a difference in our lives. God is at work in us through the power of His love.

How much sweetness such Christian love adds to life! There is power in love, a power that can bind a congregation together or congregations together into one solid unit dedicated to the Master and His service.

Near Mobile, Alabama there was a railroad bridge that spanned a big bayou. The date was September 22, 1993. It was a foggy morning just before 3:00 a.m. when a tugboat accidently pushed a barge into the bayou. The drifting barge slammed into the bridge.

In the darkness no one could see the extent of the damage, but someone on the tugboat radioed the Coast Guard to inform them. Moments later an Amtrak train, the Sunset Limited, reached the bridge. The train was traveling from Los Angeles to Miami.

Unaware of the damage, the train crossed the bridge at 70 mph. There were 210 passengers on board. As the weight of the train crossed the damaged support, the bridge gave away. Three locomotive units and the first four of the train’s 8 passenger cars fell into the alligator infested bayou. The darkness and fog was thickened by fire and smoke.

The tugboat operator immediately called in a frantic message to the Coast Guard. It was so far back in the swamp, emergency vehicles were only able to get within 6 miles of the site on land. Helicopters were called in to help rescue the survivors. Many people made it, but 47 people drowned or died in the flames.

There were many heroes that morning. One was Michael Dopheide. The thirty people he helped save included one two year old, an elderly lady, and a 11 year old girl with cerebral palsy named Andrea. Her parents, Geray and Mary Jane Chancey, were traveling home with their little girl. As they were waiting to get out, the car shifted and filled with water. They desperately pushed little Andrea out through the window to the hands of waiting rescuers.

This was their last act of love for their daughter. Instead of getting out themselves, they chose to give their lives to save their child. This is the same kind of love Jesus had when He chose to die on the cross for You!