John was writing to a respected Christian lady, with a family, and the gift of hospitality to include other people in that family.  Why should she need instruction on the need to love people from her heart (1 Peter 1:22)?  The reason is given in 2 John 1:7-11.  Soft hearted people, including Christian people with a big heart to welcome others, may be used, manipulated and taken advantage of – by people who also want access to God’s people to take advantage of them too.  This lady was a potential target for them.

Love is a big subject and stirs big emotions.  Love is both a statement of character and an intentional action. As disciples of Jesus, we know that we should love each other; but what does that mean in practice?  John reminds the lady that love is being practically obedient to whatever God commands.  It was not a new idea; Jesus said it first (John 14:21).

Love is not sentimentality.  Godly love is full of truth.  However loving this lady might be, and however kind to people she did not know, she needed to test if their spiritual motives were true (1 John 3:18) … and decide if she should welcome them to her home and allow them to share their thoughts with her friends.  Those who truly love the Lord will be unashamed to declare that Jesus Christ is God (1 Corinthians 12:3).  But those who have no relationship with the Father will have no appetite to glorify Jesus as God the Son.  So-called ‘spiritual’ people who will not declare Jesus to be God come to earth in a human body should not be welcomed to teach the church – they will only deceive God’s people (2 John 1:7).  Indeed, those who welcome them share in their sin, and take part in their wickedness (2 John 1:11).

'Walking in love' means everyday obedience to the truth.  The love of godly obedience is different from the love of human expediency.  It achieves God's purposes in other people - rather than either giving people what they want (which may not be God's will for them) or using love as a manipulative tool to get what we want out of other people.  We need to be alert to distinguish truthful love from sentimentality.  As we walk in truthful love, we walk in Christ and keep in step with the Spirit.  When the church separates love from truth, it cannot represent Christ and is at risk of being removed (Revelation 2:4-5).  Let us practise the love of God as we obey the Word of God.