"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God."
In 1 John 4:7, John reminds us of Jesus’ New Commandment (John 13:34) given after the Last Supper – to love one another. He continues to explain the divine origins of love. To love truly is to love as God does. It is to embody God’s goodness and to live in his Spirit. So great is His love that he sent his son down to live among us and die for our sins. What we each choose to do with God’s love, whether to embrace it or to be led astray by sin, is our individual responsibility.
It is not our place to judge others, even those who choose hate. Rather it is our responsibility to love them as God did – without reservation. To love is an action, not simply an emotion, and by spreading His love to others you are actively embracing God’s love. When John says that those who love are born of God, he is explaining that by choosing to love, you affirm your own salvation. In doing so you become more truly knowing of, and thus closer to, God.