What does 1 Thessalonians 3:7 mean?

Timothy's report encouraged Paul and his coworkers. Knowing that the Thessalonians were doing well spiritually lifted their spirits in the midst of the persecution they were encountering. They and the Thessalonian believers were brothers, members of God's family by faith in Jesus Christ. At the beginning of his letter, Paul had called his readers "brothers loved of God" (1 Thessalonians 1:4). Now the love of God was flowing from the Thessalonian brothers to Paul and his missionary team.

Jesus said, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12). To love one another as Jesus loved us involves sincerity, compassion, forgiveness, and self-sacrifice. It also means to never stop loving our fellow Christians. John 13:1 tells us that, "… having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." The apostle John reflected on Christian love as evidence of one's salvation. He wrote: "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers…" (1 John 3:14).