Post by Cindy on Mar 20, 2017 10:54:44 GMT -5
There's basically 3 ways we tend to view others even before we're saved. We can either love them, hate them, or view them indifferently. Often due to life experience and to the way we've been raised, we tend to see others as fitting into one of two categories: either someone who might be our friend, or someone who is likely out to harm us. Because this is all we've known, this is generally carried over with us after we're saved as well. Over the course of our lives, we develop ways to protect ourselves from those who we think are out to harm us, and ways to determine if someone might be a friend to us. Now that we're saved though, we need to introduce a new question - What does Jesus tell us to do, how does He want us to act and react toward others? How does He want us to see others?
Like everything else, God's ways are the opposite of the world's ways. It would be impossible for us to change this very basic part of ourselves if we didn't have the Holy Spirit within us. If we didn't have the Holy Spirit though, we wouldn't even want to change or be at all interested in what the Lord commands us in this are. Since we are saved though, we have a great deal of work to do in this department. First the Lord tells us that we need to knock down the walls we've built around our hearts to keep others from hurting us. Thankfully, this is one area that He will do for us if we will but ask Him. In fact, sometimes He does it without our actually asking! If you do still have walls around your heart though, this is the first step to take. Ask the Lord to take down your walls and help you to see others the way He does.
Now, how are we to see others? How did the Lord see others? The Bible shows us and tells us that He sees everyone with love. And the kind of love He sees them with is not the kind of love the world talks about but rather is true love. It's defined and described for us in 1 Corinthians 13. First we're told basically that no matter how spiritual or good we think we are, if we don't have this love for everyone, then we are really nothing! That's a bitter pill to swallow since none of us have this love to start with. Until we were saved it was impossible to have this kind of love for others. The only reason we can do so now is because God poured His love into our hearts when we were saved. (Rom 5:5) We don't need to ask the Lord to give us more love, for He's already given it to us. What we need to ask then, is for Him to teach us to love the way He does, and to see others the same way He does.
We could spend all day just discussing those verses in 1 Corinthians. Instead I'd rather focus on the ones that seem to be the hardest for us, or rather the ones that we prefer to ignore. It's not difficult to understand what patience means or the rest of what is said about love, but there's some areas that seems to stump most of us, that we tend to hate to give us. “It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” (1 Corinthians 13:5) The lord teaches us and shows us in His own life that love is not self seeking, instead it's self sacrificing. We are not to love someone else in order to have them love us back and treat us well. We are to love others simply because God loved and continues to love us. (1 Corinthians 13:5–6,1 John 4:7–21,etc) We are not to be easily angered, instead we're to always give others the benefit of the doubt. Even if we believe someone is lying to us, we're to accept them at their word, as that is how we want to be treated. Another hard one is not keeping a record of the way we've been wronged by someone. This isn't just taking about written records - whether written by us, or saving things written by others, but is also speaking of remembering the ways we've been wronged in our minds.
How in the world are we supposed to stop remembering something though? Well, God has an answer for that too! He tells us to take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. Therefore when we begin to remember a way someone has wronged us, we're to stop the thought and replace it with the Truth from God's Word. That truth might be remembering the verse: “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13) or another like it. I underlined "as the Lord forgave you" because the Lord promises us to forget our sins and remember them no more, which is what He expects and commands us to do as well. Obviously, being God, He doesn't really "forget" them. That would be impossible since He knows all things. What He does though is promise not to bring them up to us, to others or even to Himself ever again, and that's exactly what He wants us to do. He tells us to forget what's in the past and concentrate instead on the present and how we're to live now. In Phil 4:8, He even tells us what kind of thoughts we should allow in our minds. This was pretty difficult for me, but with practice it becomes a natural way of life to those who are saved. It's certainly nothing like the love the world talks about! Praise God that He enables us to love others the way He does!
When I was first saved, I recognized that the bible obviously tells us to love others. But I couldn't imagine loving someone who had done terrible things to my children or to me either for that matter. So as I read the Bible, I looked for a loophole. Often, though not always, when speaking about loving others, the bible will say to love our brothers, meaning others who are saved, so I grabbed that as my loophole. I decided that we had to love everyone who was saved, but that if someone wasn't saved, while we had to be kind and pray for them, we didn't have to love them. This was a HUGE mistake and not at all what the bible teaches, which the Lord promptly showed me. Over and over the bible tells us outright to love our enemies, to love the unsaved, and to love the saved. The Bible makes it quite clear that there is no one at all that we are allowed not to love. That's pretty earthshaking to most of us. I know it was for me.
My next reaction was to say, "OK, I'll love them, but that doesn't mean that I have to be around them." Again the Lord showed me how wrong I was. (1 John 3:17–18, James 2:15–16, Luke 6:27, Luke 6:35, Romans 12:19–21 Luke 10:26–37, Matthew 5:38–42 etc) The first thing the Lord showed me was Luke 10:26–37 which is the story about a man who basically wanted to believe just what I'd wanted to, but the Lord's answer to "who is my neighbor" or in other words, "just who do I have to love" showed him and me how wrong we were. The Lord showed us with His own life that He expects us to truly love even those who wish to harm us and He expects us to show them our love by our actions and the way we treat them and talk about them and talk to them. This would again be impossible for us to do without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but the Lord has given us His Spirit so that we can live according to His commands, and His command is to love one another, meaning to love everyone. As before, I had no choice but to repent and obey the Lord.
It's one thing to say we're to love everyone, but for that to happen, we must first see others, including those people we don't know, the way the Lord sees them instead of our old ways of how we viewed others. This can be very difficult especially if we've been used to seeing others as people who may want to harm us. When we see people that way, even if we do give them a chance, at the smallest slip up we immediately revert to believing that they intend to hurt us and that they don't care about us at all and we run away from them. But the Lord tells us to see them as He does and again we're pointed to 1 Cor 13:4-7. Love isn't self-seeking. We're to love them because God does, because God loves us and wants us to share His love with them. We're to view them as another person that's been created in His image, another person He loves and who He asks us to honor and love too, regardless of whether or not we think they deserve it. God explains that, “He who seeks good finds goodwill, but evil comes to him who searches for it.” (Proverbs 11:27) and that “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” (Titus 1:15–16) As the KJV Commentary says: "People can go to extremes and see something wrong in everything and every person until they separate themselves into total isolation." That's often what happens to us when we're looking at others expecting that they want to harm us. We're looking at them in fear and as though we're better than they are. We tell ourselves we see them that way because they've already shown us by "whatever we've observed" that they want to harm us. But God says that's not true, that we're looking at them with our old self, with hearts that are corrupted and feelings that we are absolutely not to trust. “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) (see also Ecclesiastes 9:3, Proverbs 28:26, Romans 12:2, Matthew 7:1–5, John 7:24, Romans 14:4 etc) “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” (1 Peter 2:17) Certainly not easy to do, but with practice and the help of our God, we can. Another person we can see this in besides of course Jesus Himself, is Paul. Paul amazes me at the way he was totally changed when he was saved, so that after years of practice he was able to tell people to imitate him as he imitated the Lord! I wish I could say that!
Jesus says that our loving and forgiving others is so important that we shouldn't even go to worship Him if we realize that someone is upset with us or if we're upset with someone else! ““Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23–24) That's really showed me just how serious He is about this! There is of course much more we could say about this. After all, the entire bible is really all about love - how God loves us and how we're to love Him and others.
I'll share some of the verses that are important about this subject below, but to share them all, I'd have to quote the entire bible, as that's the main theme through both testaments. I know people tend to skip over reading scriptures that are posted, but I'm hoping that won't happen here since this is so very important. Reading the scriptures is much more important than reading what I wrote.
“Do everything in love.” (1 Corinthians 16:14)
“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.” (2 Corinthians 5:16)
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)
“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.” (1 Thessalonians 3:12)
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13:4–7)
“But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” (Matthew 5:39–42)
“Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15–16)
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:29–32)
“Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:19–21)
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:12–14)
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:” (Philippians 2:3–5)
“Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13–14)
“This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” (1 John 3:11–24)
““But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:27–36)
““What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”” (Luke 10:26–37)
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:7–21)
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3:12–14)
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” (Ephesians 4:2)
“and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:2)
““Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23–24)
Like everything else, God's ways are the opposite of the world's ways. It would be impossible for us to change this very basic part of ourselves if we didn't have the Holy Spirit within us. If we didn't have the Holy Spirit though, we wouldn't even want to change or be at all interested in what the Lord commands us in this are. Since we are saved though, we have a great deal of work to do in this department. First the Lord tells us that we need to knock down the walls we've built around our hearts to keep others from hurting us. Thankfully, this is one area that He will do for us if we will but ask Him. In fact, sometimes He does it without our actually asking! If you do still have walls around your heart though, this is the first step to take. Ask the Lord to take down your walls and help you to see others the way He does.
Now, how are we to see others? How did the Lord see others? The Bible shows us and tells us that He sees everyone with love. And the kind of love He sees them with is not the kind of love the world talks about but rather is true love. It's defined and described for us in 1 Corinthians 13. First we're told basically that no matter how spiritual or good we think we are, if we don't have this love for everyone, then we are really nothing! That's a bitter pill to swallow since none of us have this love to start with. Until we were saved it was impossible to have this kind of love for others. The only reason we can do so now is because God poured His love into our hearts when we were saved. (Rom 5:5) We don't need to ask the Lord to give us more love, for He's already given it to us. What we need to ask then, is for Him to teach us to love the way He does, and to see others the same way He does.
We could spend all day just discussing those verses in 1 Corinthians. Instead I'd rather focus on the ones that seem to be the hardest for us, or rather the ones that we prefer to ignore. It's not difficult to understand what patience means or the rest of what is said about love, but there's some areas that seems to stump most of us, that we tend to hate to give us. “It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” (1 Corinthians 13:5) The lord teaches us and shows us in His own life that love is not self seeking, instead it's self sacrificing. We are not to love someone else in order to have them love us back and treat us well. We are to love others simply because God loved and continues to love us. (1 Corinthians 13:5–6,1 John 4:7–21,etc) We are not to be easily angered, instead we're to always give others the benefit of the doubt. Even if we believe someone is lying to us, we're to accept them at their word, as that is how we want to be treated. Another hard one is not keeping a record of the way we've been wronged by someone. This isn't just taking about written records - whether written by us, or saving things written by others, but is also speaking of remembering the ways we've been wronged in our minds.
How in the world are we supposed to stop remembering something though? Well, God has an answer for that too! He tells us to take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. Therefore when we begin to remember a way someone has wronged us, we're to stop the thought and replace it with the Truth from God's Word. That truth might be remembering the verse: “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13) or another like it. I underlined "as the Lord forgave you" because the Lord promises us to forget our sins and remember them no more, which is what He expects and commands us to do as well. Obviously, being God, He doesn't really "forget" them. That would be impossible since He knows all things. What He does though is promise not to bring them up to us, to others or even to Himself ever again, and that's exactly what He wants us to do. He tells us to forget what's in the past and concentrate instead on the present and how we're to live now. In Phil 4:8, He even tells us what kind of thoughts we should allow in our minds. This was pretty difficult for me, but with practice it becomes a natural way of life to those who are saved. It's certainly nothing like the love the world talks about! Praise God that He enables us to love others the way He does!
When I was first saved, I recognized that the bible obviously tells us to love others. But I couldn't imagine loving someone who had done terrible things to my children or to me either for that matter. So as I read the Bible, I looked for a loophole. Often, though not always, when speaking about loving others, the bible will say to love our brothers, meaning others who are saved, so I grabbed that as my loophole. I decided that we had to love everyone who was saved, but that if someone wasn't saved, while we had to be kind and pray for them, we didn't have to love them. This was a HUGE mistake and not at all what the bible teaches, which the Lord promptly showed me. Over and over the bible tells us outright to love our enemies, to love the unsaved, and to love the saved. The Bible makes it quite clear that there is no one at all that we are allowed not to love. That's pretty earthshaking to most of us. I know it was for me.
My next reaction was to say, "OK, I'll love them, but that doesn't mean that I have to be around them." Again the Lord showed me how wrong I was. (1 John 3:17–18, James 2:15–16, Luke 6:27, Luke 6:35, Romans 12:19–21 Luke 10:26–37, Matthew 5:38–42 etc) The first thing the Lord showed me was Luke 10:26–37 which is the story about a man who basically wanted to believe just what I'd wanted to, but the Lord's answer to "who is my neighbor" or in other words, "just who do I have to love" showed him and me how wrong we were. The Lord showed us with His own life that He expects us to truly love even those who wish to harm us and He expects us to show them our love by our actions and the way we treat them and talk about them and talk to them. This would again be impossible for us to do without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but the Lord has given us His Spirit so that we can live according to His commands, and His command is to love one another, meaning to love everyone. As before, I had no choice but to repent and obey the Lord.
It's one thing to say we're to love everyone, but for that to happen, we must first see others, including those people we don't know, the way the Lord sees them instead of our old ways of how we viewed others. This can be very difficult especially if we've been used to seeing others as people who may want to harm us. When we see people that way, even if we do give them a chance, at the smallest slip up we immediately revert to believing that they intend to hurt us and that they don't care about us at all and we run away from them. But the Lord tells us to see them as He does and again we're pointed to 1 Cor 13:4-7. Love isn't self-seeking. We're to love them because God does, because God loves us and wants us to share His love with them. We're to view them as another person that's been created in His image, another person He loves and who He asks us to honor and love too, regardless of whether or not we think they deserve it. God explains that, “He who seeks good finds goodwill, but evil comes to him who searches for it.” (Proverbs 11:27) and that “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” (Titus 1:15–16) As the KJV Commentary says: "People can go to extremes and see something wrong in everything and every person until they separate themselves into total isolation." That's often what happens to us when we're looking at others expecting that they want to harm us. We're looking at them in fear and as though we're better than they are. We tell ourselves we see them that way because they've already shown us by "whatever we've observed" that they want to harm us. But God says that's not true, that we're looking at them with our old self, with hearts that are corrupted and feelings that we are absolutely not to trust. “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) (see also Ecclesiastes 9:3, Proverbs 28:26, Romans 12:2, Matthew 7:1–5, John 7:24, Romans 14:4 etc) “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” (1 Peter 2:17) Certainly not easy to do, but with practice and the help of our God, we can. Another person we can see this in besides of course Jesus Himself, is Paul. Paul amazes me at the way he was totally changed when he was saved, so that after years of practice he was able to tell people to imitate him as he imitated the Lord! I wish I could say that!
Jesus says that our loving and forgiving others is so important that we shouldn't even go to worship Him if we realize that someone is upset with us or if we're upset with someone else! ““Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23–24) That's really showed me just how serious He is about this! There is of course much more we could say about this. After all, the entire bible is really all about love - how God loves us and how we're to love Him and others.
I'll share some of the verses that are important about this subject below, but to share them all, I'd have to quote the entire bible, as that's the main theme through both testaments. I know people tend to skip over reading scriptures that are posted, but I'm hoping that won't happen here since this is so very important. Reading the scriptures is much more important than reading what I wrote.
“Do everything in love.” (1 Corinthians 16:14)
“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.” (2 Corinthians 5:16)
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)
“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.” (1 Thessalonians 3:12)
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13:4–7)
“But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” (Matthew 5:39–42)
“Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15–16)
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:29–32)
“Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:19–21)
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:12–14)
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:” (Philippians 2:3–5)
“Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13–14)
“This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” (1 John 3:11–24)
““But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:27–36)
““What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”” (Luke 10:26–37)
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:7–21)
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3:12–14)
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” (Ephesians 4:2)
“and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:2)
““Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23–24)
!!
