Romans 12:9-10
Mark 12:33
John 15:12-13
One of the major themes in the Bible is love. There are tons of scriptures that talk about it...quite obviously, it's an important part of life! As Christians we are called to love EVERYONE...our friends, our parents, our brothers and sisters...even our enemies (Love your enemies and pray for those who pursectute you). This is a hard thing to do sometimes, especially when people get on your nerves! But Jesus made it a huge point to love others...He went out of His way to show His love for people, not only by dying on the cross for us, but through out His life. He hung out with many people that were hated by society...he showed them the love that they needed, and because of it, they were turned around. He was buddies with the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the sinners. He raised normal old people from the dead, He healed people simply because He loved them...He had compassion on them!
As I said earlyer, we are called to love others. We are called to build eachother up, to encourage eachother, to let Christ's love shine through us 24/7! A good way to make sure that you're being kind to others is to pretend that they are Jesus...treat other people like you would treat Him, and your attitude towards them just might change!
1 Corinthians 13 is called "the love chapter". I think it may be one of my favorites in the Bible. It says that even if you lead a perfect life, if you're nice to others and help the poor and needy, if you give all of your stuff to them, if you have the greatest faith in God that anyone could have but you don't love, you are nothing. I read in a devotional once something really cool. Take 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and everywhere you see the word "Love", put your name in. Is that how you act? Are you patient and kind? Or are you envious, arrogant, boastful and rude? This is a great way to check yourself on your "love status"...if you've got love, you should act like love. Be love! 1 Corinthians 13 goes on to say that everything in this world is eventually gonna turn to dust, but love won't. It'll remain for all time. It's everlasting. It endures all things. So go out there and spread God's love!
"And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love."
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