¹⁷ Whoever has earthly possessions and notices a brother in need and yet withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God be present in him? ¹⁸ Little children, we must stop expressing love merely by our words and manner of speech; we must love^[a] also in action^[b] and in truth. ¹⁹ This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and how we will be able to keep ourselves^[c] strong in his presence.