“Love for God begins to manifest itself and act in us
when we begin to love our neighbor as ourselves and not to spare either ourselves or anything belonging to us for him, as the image of God;
when we endeavor to serve him for his salvation in everything we can;
when, for the sake of pleasing God, we refuse to gratify our appetites, our carnal vision, our carnal wisdom, which is not subjected to the wisdom of God.
‘For he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, Whom he hath not seen’ (St. John IV. 20)? ‘They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts’ (Galatians V.24).”
St. John of Kronstadt