LOVE ONE ANOTHER
Basic Text: “Having purified your souls by obeying the truth through the Spirit, for the unfeigned brotherly love; fervently love one another with a pure heart” (I Peter 1:22).

God is love
The essence of God is love (I John 4:8). God doesn’t have love but He is love. This makes us understand all the teachings of Jesus in his earthly ministry (Mt 5:13-16). All that the Lord Jesus taught can be described with one word: love.
When making man, God endowed him with the capacity to love and feel loved. We were made for this beautiful purpose of the Lord: we are made in His likeness, having this characteristic within us (Rm 8:29-30). And true happiness is in this premise: love with the love of God (I Jn 2:6-11).
In the Greek language, we have three words that translate as “love.” The words: agape, phileo and eros. The latter (“eros”) speaks of the love that exists in the marriage of a man with a woman – physical love. Physical attraction that both feel for the marriage. This is accomplished through the conjugal act, which makes the two “one flesh” (Gen 2:21).
The love “phileo” is at the level of the soul, of thought, and of friendship (Ruth 1:16-17). It is love that should exist between brothers/sisters, family, and people in general (Ps 133:1-3). This love speaks of respect, understanding, and a healthy relationship. It should be developed in the period of courtship/dating, when the couple discovers that they want to marry and form a family together. It is the knowledge of each others soul. And it should never cease to exist over the years in marriage, on the contrary, it should increase in their hearts day by day.
Finally, the love “agape” is the kind of unconditional love – it is the love of God (I Co 13:1-13). He loved us and gave us his best: his own Son (Jn 3:16, Rm 5:8). Would you have the courage to give your only son to die cruelly in the hands of people who do not accept your sacrificial surrender? What do you think of the love of God?
The closest thing to God’s love is the love of a mother. However, we have seen so many mothers “un-nurturing”, lacking this feeling that is so sublime, is it not? The Word tells us: “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.”

(Isaiah 49:15)
And the Lord has proved his love and continues to prove it to us. The giving of Jesus on Calvary was the greatest proof of this love. The Lord had already spoken about the nails that would be nailed into Jesus’ hands: “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.” (Isaiah 49:16).

The purpose of the cross
The purpose of the cross is not only to save us from eternal condemnation, but to make us like Jesus, to rescue us from the oppression of sin, and to turn us into true “sons of God.”
The blood shed on Calvary sanctifies us and enables us to enthrone Jesus in our hearts, turning us into true worshipers of the Father.  This means that with a purified heart, we can contemplate the face of the Lord to worship him (Mt 5:8) and experience and filling of the Holy Spirit in our lives (Eph 5:1-2, 18-21).
Jesus came to bring abundant life (Jn 10:10). This life springs from the forgiven heart like rivers of love, of peace, of goodness, of faithfulness, of mercy, of good fruits (Gal 5:22). Only by the power of the Holy Spirit a believer can demonstrate the love “agape” (sacrificial love).
A proud heart hat is full of itself, like the Pharisee in the parable of Jesus, can not be a blessing to others. There is no room for the Holy Spirit where pride dwells. That is why God tells us that He dwells with the contrite, with those who have a broken heart, that is, he who crucifies his “ego” on the cross.
There is a cross for every true Christian who follows Jesus. What, therefore, is the purpose of the cross for us?
The purpose of our cross is to get rid of our sinful nature inherited from Adam (Gal 5:24). It is to identify us with Christ on Calvary: there dying, being buried with Him and rising by his power to a new life.
The purpose of the cross of Christ is to show us that our sins hurt God’s heart and bring death, separation. The purpose of the cross is to break through sin, crucifying our own will and allowing the Holy Spirit to direct our life. If He is the “captain” of our boat, it will never sink.
The purpose of the cross is to keep us in constant dependence on God to act and decide all things. The vertical axis of the cross speaks of obedience to the Father, of total surrender. The horizontal axis of the cross speaks of service to others, my brother/sister, who is lying on the edge of my way (Lk 10:30-37).
The purpose of the cross is to make us love with the love of God. Without barriers, without exception of people (Jm 2:1-9), without waiting for anything in return from he who was rescued (Mt 5:46).

Practicing love
We know that God’s unconditional love, which has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit is the most powerful spiritual weapon to overcome all obstacles and difficulties in human relationships. “Love never fails” (I Co 13:8). There is not even one conflict that is not faded with a demonstration of genuine love.
Scripture reveals God’s plan to restore man, bringing him back into the image of God. Being that love is the essence of God, we perceive, then, that man looks like his Creator and Savior when, at heart, he loves God and his neighbor.
Jesus brought us valuable lessons about brotherly love. Read these texts, meditate on his words and make a reflection on your own life. Have you loved as the Lord commanded us to? Remember that love is not just a feeling, but love is a commandment of the Lord for all Christians.
“Let love be without dissimulation. Hate evil and hold fast what is good. Be kindly to one another with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another “(Rm 12:9-10).
What do you think of this expression: “prefer to honor each other”?  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which live and abide for ever.” (I Pt 1:22-23).
What do you understand by “unfeigned love”? And what did Peter mean by the phrase: “Love one another fervently”?
Comment, at the cell group, experiences that you have had within this context of Christian love (burning, preferring to honor the other).
Who are the people whom we should love? Why?
Cite an example of genuine love in the Bible.
What do the members of your cell group do to demonstrate true love? Let’s put “hands on” to live the love of God in the church?

Challenges
Look for opportunities to love what God has given you and see if you are taking advantage of these opportunities or not.