Imperishable Inheritance

Isn’t it amaz­ing how we can so easily miss crit­i­cal lessons in the Scrip­tures? As I’ve been think­ing about the impor­tance of Chris­t­ian love I never imag­ined how incred­i­bly pro­nounced it is. I mean, I knew it was there, but only recently is it really hit­ting me. And the love we are com­manded to have joy in is not just towards God but our fellow brethren and those out­side of the faith. The ethic of love should seem­ingly per­me­ate every facet of our Chris­t­ian life! Amazing.

Here is but a small sam­pling of pas­sages from the NT that speak to this issue.

“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax col­lec­tors do the same? If you greet only your broth­ers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gen­tiles do the same?” (Mat 5:46-47)

“‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and fore­most com­mand­ment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGH­BOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two com­mand­ments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Mat 22:37-40)

“A new com­mand­ment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My dis­ci­ples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

“O right­eous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:25-26)

“Let love be with­out hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in broth­erly love; give pref­er­ence to one another in honor;” (Rom 12:9-10)

“For you were called to free­dom, brethren; only do not turn your free­dom into an oppor­tu­nity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (Gal 5:13)

“Therefore I, the pris­oner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the call­ing with which you have been called, with all humil­ity and gen­tle­ness, with patience, show­ing tol­er­ance for one another in love, being dili­gent to pre­serve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph 4:1-3)

“Now may our God and Father Him­self and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you; and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; so that He may estab­lish your hearts with­out blame in holi­ness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints…Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you your­selves are taught by God to love one another” (1 Thess 3:11-13, 4:9)

“Let us hold fast the con­fes­sion of our hope with­out waver­ing, for He who promised is faith­ful; and let us con­sider how to stim­u­late one another to love and good deeds, not for­sak­ing our own assem­bling together, as is the habit of some, but encour­ag­ing one another; and all the more as you see the day draw­ing near.” (Heb 10:23-25)

“Since you have in obe­di­ence to the truth puri­fied your souls for a sin­cere love of the brethren, fer­vently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is per­ish­able but imper­ish­able, that is, through the living and endur­ing word of God.” (1 Pet 1:22-23)

“For this is the mes­sage which you have heard from the begin­ning, that we should love one another;” (1 John 3:11)

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and every­one who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8)