1 John 3:14-15, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.”

Interesting points:
1. In Verse 14 John next adds a key line of evidence that by love a person has moved from the realm of evil into the realm of God. John and his readers loved one another. The Greek root word translated here as "love" is agape. The term implies a selfless, self-sacrificing love focused on other people. Those who exhibit this kind of love provide strong evidence to support that they are true believers.

2. In contrast, John taught that a lack of love is a sign of remaining (or abiding) in death. This concept is important, as the intended audience of this letter is Christian believers. Hatred, according to Jesus, is the spiritual equivalent to murder (Matthew 5:21–22). Christians are certainly capable of feeling hate, but such feelings are never the product of fellowship with Christ. As John words it, anyone who hates (does not love) remains in death.

3. John's words in Verse 15 have been misinterpreted to cause much controversy with positions such as anyone who has committed murder cannot become a Christian, were never were a Christian, and/or that feeling hate towards a fellow Christian is an absolute sign of being lost, without Christ.

4. The context provides a different solution. In Verse 12, John had just warned believers, "We should not be like Cain." Cain murdered his brother because of his own evil deeds. Verse 15 builds on this idea. The person who hates his brother is, like Cain, a murderer. Such a person is not "abiding" in eternal life (1 John 2:9, 11). Under no circumstances can a Christian excuse hatred for another believer: such attitudes are entirely from the Devil. Those who persist in such attitudes, more likely than not, have no relationship with Christ at all.

Application:
Brothers, John will build on this further in 1 John 4:20, adding, "If anyone says, ‘I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen." Love is not merely a feeling, it is a choice to act and hatred is always an act of disobedience to God.
Let’s take some time today to consider our relationship with those who disappoint, annoy or irritate us. If we cannot bring ourselves to love them with the love of Christ, we are failing at an opportunity to bring someone into a relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ. As we reflect on those we need God’s help to love, may we lift our attitudes and thoughts to the Lord and ask for His love to flow through us so that we can turn from hate to love.