Love

I love this passage from 1 Peter 4:  "But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.  And above all things have fervent love for one another, for 'love will cover a multitude of sins.' "  Love is a great subject because it is at the base of what the Christian is, at the very core.  There are many other things that go into making up the Christian such as faith, practice, worship and more, but love is at our core....and must be at our core.  The early part of 1 John talks about the importance of the Christian keeping "His commandments," and "test the spirits."  But love must still be at the core and of prime importance.

And note this passage in 1 John 4:  "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

And no discussion of love would be complete without the reference to the love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13.  It begins: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  And it concludes with "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

Love reigns above all.  That is what we are, what we are to be.  As mentioned in 1 John 4, "God is love."   And He expects us to be love.  It manifests itself in us when we love Him, but even more when we love each other.  God knew that it would not always be easy for us to love each other.  But He expects that, demands that.

So, beloved.....I love you.  Let us strive to complete this teaching by loving each other.  Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!    And feel the love........