For God so loved the world This is the most well known Bible verse in the entire world. “For God so loved the world…” (John 3:16) Have you considered the kind of love it required?
Have you considered the kind of love it required for Jesus Christ to lower himself below the angels — to suffer and die a shameful cursed death — for sinful mankind?
With that perspective on the love of God, consider the kind of love for one another we are supposed to have for our fellow-brethren…
Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. (Romans 13:8)
And yet I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (1 Cor 12:31-1 Cor 13:3)
May God our Father and our Lord Jesus bring us to you very soon. And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. May he, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. Amen. (1 Thessalonians 3:11-13)
But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other, for God himself has taught you to love one another. Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more. (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10)
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. (James 2:8)
You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. (1 Peter 1:22)
Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king. (1 Peter 2:17)
Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)
So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God. (1 John 3:10)
This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. (1 John 3:11)
If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. (1 John 3:14)
And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. (1 John 3:23)
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. (1 John 4:11-12)
If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters. (1 John 4:20-21)
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. (1 John 5:1-2)
I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning. (2 John 1:5-6)
How are you doing? How does looking into the mirror of God’s word find you? Does your love for one another cause you to have a godly preference for each other? Do you have that kind of godly preference for all of your brethren?
Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism (Acts 10:34)
My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. (James 2:1)
But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. (James 2:9)
If you are struggling with love for one another when they aren’t lovely, please write to us. If you have been victorious in your love for one another please comment below. If you think this can help someone else to have love for one another, please share on social media.