The world is desperate for true love. There are more books listed on Amazon that are about love or have "love" in the title than there are books about God, money, or sex. Some of the most popular apps, websites and social media platforms today try to help you find true love. Love is one of, if not the most popular theme in the music industry. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay One of my favorite quotes is from an American singer-songwriter: “The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love and be loved in return” .” As intriguing and romantic as it may seem, it misses the mark. Looking for love in all the wrong places... Our world craves love, but can't find fulfilling, lasting love. Not until they get to the cross. Side note: My version of the quote is “The greatest thing you will ever learn is how much you are loved (by God); so you will love in return. And it comes from this passage as well as from Matthew. Now Jesus says that if you love each other in this way, “everyone” will know that you are My disciple. He doesn't say "might know" or "may know", but "will know". Brothers and sisters, we can tell people about the love of God and we can tell people what we believe and that won't convince anyone nearly as much as seeing our love in action and how we care for each other. Jesus says the key to impacting the world is for Christians to love one another. So why does the church have such little impact? Why can't the Church point the world to what it so desperately craves: true love? I would like to suggest an answer through a true story from the life of Dr. J. Vernon McGee. He tells the story of when he was a boy, his father died and he went to work to support his mother and sister. He stayed with two aunts and his bachelor uncle. One aunt was Baptist and the other was Presbyterian. The uncle was a crude non-believer with a drinking problem. Every Sunday after church we all sat down to lunch and at the table, McGee said, we smelled all the Baptist and Presbyterian filth. Years later, when his uncle was in the hospital on the verge of dying, one of the aunts cried and asked McGee why his uncle refused to trust Christ, and this was McGee's response: "You don't win people to Christ by being cannibalistic Christians". What does it mean? Many do not come to church where they can hear the gospel because all they hear before going to church is gossip. The world watches, but they don't see much love. They don't see any difference. There is no way for them to know whether those who call themselves Christians are real or not. Paul Washer once preached a series on 1. John and called it "Trials of True Faith." Let's take a look and see how John interpreted this verse and the meaning of "my disciples." He concluded that to be a true disciple is to truly be born again! Not just an outward expression and involvement in a church, but an inward transformation, a miracle, changed by the Spirit and given a new heart of love for God and man. Love is how you know this transformation has happened. I want to read five verses to make this point. You don't have to turn around there, I read them and you can write them down if you take notes. “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God and whoever loves is born of God and knows God.” – (1 John 4:7)“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. He who does not love remains in death." – (1 John 3:14)“From this it appears who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not do righteousness is not of God, nor whoever does not love.