Bill Bright, founder and president, Campus Crusade for Christ - I know two law partners who used to hate each other. When one became a Christian, he asked me, "Now that I’m a Christian, what should I do?" I said, "Why not ask him to forgive you and tell him you love him?" "I could never do that!" he said, "because I don’t love him."
That lawyer had put his finger squarely on one of the great challenges of the Christian life: On the one hand, everybody wants to be loved, but on the other hand, many people never experience it. That’s why we need to learn to love as Christ loves--unconditionally. We can’t manufacture that kind of love. It only comes from God; and it’s a love that draws people to Christ.
I prayed with that attorney. The next morning, he told his partner, "I’ve become a Christian, and I want to ask you to forgive me for all I’ve done to hurt you, and to tell you that I love you." The partner was so surprised and convicted that he, too, asked for forgiveness and said, "I would like to become a Christian. Would you tell me how?"
See what love can do?
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (I John 3:16).
“This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death” (I John 3:11, 14).