1John 3:14 - Mostly dead, true love - and true life!

"We are having come to know that we have passed out of the death into the life, because we are loving the brothers.  The [one] not loving remains in death."

-So, what you get in the world is hate - and death.  Remaining in death.  The default state of the unbelieving heart, this.  Death.  Dead to God, dead to glory and the life that is found in Him, and destined to be separated from Him for all eternity.  Shut off from His Light and goodness and love.  A walking spiritual corpse, for all intensive purposes (real life walking dead - spiritual zombies?).  And for the one who does not love the brethren, they are remaining that way still, still dead in their sins, regardless of what motions they have gone thru, what experiences they have had or what professions they have made.

-Passing out of death and into life.  Think about it.  This is the precise opposite direction of the normal course of the world.  Normally we are all passing from life into death.  The dying walking dead.  Mortal, mostly dead, soon to be fully dead (all too soon).  But Jesus throws the bus in reverse, heading in the exact opposite direction, entirely brand new destination.  Life.  Eternal life.  Whoever believes in Him has eternal life (Jn 5.24).  What we are talking about is a total change of address, of outcome, of identity.  We are talking about passing out of death and into life.  Surely we want to be sure about this.

-This then is the ultimate litmus test.  What you get in the church - or should - is love.  True love!  And life!  John is desperate to hammer home this point, that here is how we know for sure that we are genuine believers, that we have eternal life - because we LOVE the other ones who are following Jesus, not hate.  We're not hating them - or treating them as if we did.  This true love and true life go hand in hand, inseparable.  The true life of God is found and lived out in caring committed community.  Let me say that again - the true life of God is found and lived out in caring committed community!  John puts it in the first person, not pointing any fingers here, looking at our own hearts and lives and asking, do WE love our "fellow" believers in Christ?  Do we, are we living like this, walking in love for our family?  And that is the question, because if I do not love it shows that I do not actually believe.  And I might not be a "fellow" believer after all...