LOVE

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.Romans 12:9–10 (NLT)

Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Colossians 3:19 (NIV)

For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Philemon 1:7 (ESV) 

We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.1 Thessalonians 2:8 (NIV) 

Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out. Hebrews 10:24 (MSG) 

If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:26–27 (NRSV) 

Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37–40 (NIV) 

Two in a bed warm each other.

Alone, you shiver all night.

By yourself you’re unprotected.

With a friend you can face the worst.

Can you round up a third?

A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped.

Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 (MSG)

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God 

forgave you. Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)

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 3:13–14 (NIV)

Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” . . .The King will reply, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:34–40 (NIV) 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not 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 have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 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.  Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:1–8a (NIV) 

One of the religion scholars came up. Hearing the lively exchanges of question and answer and seeing how sharp Jesus was in his answers, he put in his question: “Which is most important of all the commandments?”

Jesus said, “The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And there is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these.” Mark 12:28–31 (MSG)

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13 (NIV) 

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL 

VERSION Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of 

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Scripture quotations marked NCV are taken from the NEW CENTURY VERSION®. Copyright © 

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