By this we know

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

1 John 4:11-18 Psalm 72:1-2, 10, 12-13 Mark 6:45-52

1 John 4:13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit.

We tend to devise all kinds of litmus tests to decide if we are "true" Christians or not, if we really know Jesus or not, if we are really saved or not. John makes it pretty clear what the test is though. If we love one another. I think that love is not so much an absolute as it is a relative thing. If we value something or someone above another we love that one more than the other. Do we love others more than ourselves? Do we value them above ourselves? Do we value Christ above ourselves? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves rather than do we have the absolute right doctrine. Nobody has aver seen God, so all we have to go on is our love for each other. In that we know if we love God.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to be able to love others and in that to know you.

Amen