Epiphany-tide: "we love God"

... because
he first loved us.
If anyone says, “I love God,”
but hates his brother, he is a liar

-- 1 Jn 4:19–5:4

The practice of the moral life animated by charity gives to the Christian the spiritual freedom of the children of God. He no longer stands before God as a slave, in servile fear, or as a mercenary looking for wages, but as a son responding to the love of him who "first loved us":

If we turn away from evil out of fear of punishment, we are in the position of slaves. If we pursue the enticement of wages, . . . we resemble mercenaries. Finally if we obey for the sake of the good itself and out of love for him who commands . . . we are in the position of children.

-- CCC 1828