1 John 4:7-8 (NKJV)
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Love comes from God because God is love. If we claim to have received the nature of God, then we must love one another. Only then can we say that we truly know God. We can hardly talk about the God-kind of love without talking about getting along with other people, and getting along with other people means loving them. Therefore, when we fail to get along with other people, we cannot say that we truly know God.
When the Bureau of Vocational Guidance at Harvard University made a study of thousands of men and women who had been fired, they found that for every one person who lost his job for failure to do the work, two persons lost their jobs for failure to get along successfully with other people. The percentage ran even higher in a study reported by Dr. Albert Edward Wiggam, in his syndicated column, “Let’s Explore Your Mind.” Out of 4,000 persons who lost their jobs in one year, only 10 percent or 400 lost out because they could not do the work. Ninety percent, or 3,600 of them, lost out because they had not developed the personality for successfully getting along with other people!
Success in life is synonymous with getting along with other people. Developing your people skills is one of the most important things you can do to enhance your life. Walking in love is how you can enhance your people skills and improve your ability to get along with other people.