The unseen realities of the heart inevitably become visible in action. As 1 John 4:20–21 reminds us, anyone who claims to love God while hating his brother deceives himself; love for the unseen God must be reflected in love for the brother we can see.

It is relatively easy to profess love for an abstract, invisible Jesus. That kind of Jesus never interrupts our plans, never confronts us, and always seems available when we want comfort. But this is a Jesus shaped by our imagination, not the Christ who reveals Himself in Scripture. The real Jesus asks much more. He calls us to sacrifice, suffering, and self-denial. He places us within His Body—a community of real people with real names, personalities, strengths, and flaws—and commands us to love them, forgive them, bear with them, and honor them. Our devotion to Him is inseparable from our treatment of them.

Jesus teaches that there are two primary evidences of genuine love for Him. First, we keep His commandments (John 14:15), and those commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3). At their heart, all His commands direct us to love God and love our neighbor.

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