Last Updated on December 31, 2021 by Pastor Ikechukwu Chinedum
Among the ten commandments, Christ told us love is the most important. Matthew 22:36-39 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
One thing people don’t understand is that it is impossible not to love your neighbor and yet claim that you love God. Claiming you love God when you show no sign of love to your neighbor is the highest form of hypocrisy. And it is very easy to say I love you to people, but showing that love is where the problem lies.
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Many people say they are Christians and they go to church on Sabbath they claim to love God but they don’t love their neighbors. Permit me to state this, if you don’t love your neighbors if you gossip about them. If they get into trouble and you don’t try to help them, that means you do not love God. Loving God starts with treating your neighbors well. How can you claim to love someone you have never seen and yet you detest those that you see every day? That’s hypocrisy.
Saying I love you and showing the love are two different things. It is much easier for people to say they love others but when it comes to showing that love, they flop woefully. In this blog, we will teach what love is and how to love others. We will be using some Biblical verses that will help increase the way you love others.
5 Biblical Verses To Increase Your Love Towards Others
Ephesians 4:2; “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
This portion of the scripture is teaching us how to love others. How can you claim you love others when you are not humble or patient with them. The greatest attribute of love is tolerance. You can be said to love people when you are able to tolerate them. You must be able to tolerate their shortcomings and forgive when they get you angry, that is the greatest love.
1 Peter 4: 8; “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
Instead of gossiping about that your neighbors that could not pay rent, why not offer to help if you can or keep quite and pray for if you can’t help them financially. There are so many Christians that take joy in seeing calamity befall other people. That is not love.
Love helps to cover the shame of people and always offers to help when they need it most.
Romans 12:9; “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”
If you claim to love your neighbor you must be sincere about it. It is not enough to just claim you love them but yet you backbite and jealously envy them. Your love must be sincere and you must hate everything evil. Do only the things that are considered good.
1 Corinthians 13:2; “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.”
Love is everything. For every believer that finds it very difficult to love other people but speak in a diverse tongue, you are nothing. Christ taught us that love is the greatest commandment. Meanwhile, you can’t claim to love God when you hate your neighbors. If you would rather see your neighbor cry and wail instead of offer to help, you do not love and the spirit of God is not in you.
1 John 4:16; “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 them.”
Yes, love is God and God is love. The two are inseparable. It is through love that we earn our salvation and redemption. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son. Whoever believes in him will not perish but have life everlasting. If God had not loved us, our redemption would have been in jeopardy.
John 15:12; “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
The commandment is straightforward, love each other as I have loved you. You will be an ingrate if you don’t love others. Christ loved us first that’s why he could offer himself as a sacrifice. He demanded nothing from us except for us to love our neighbors. Unfortunately, many believers find it so difficult to love others.
1 Corinthians 13:13; “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
The tenet of our faith is built on love. The foundation of the world is built on love. Every good thing we see today was made possible because God loved us. In the same vein, we are admonished to love other people.
Romans 12:10; “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”
The general essence of our faith is built on love and charity. We are made to love one another. God made us so we can be of help to one another. That’s why He didn’t give us everything we need to survive. He blessed us differently. There is something you have that someone lack. If you give them out of love, you will get something in return too.
1 John 4:20; “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”
As stated earlier, hypocrisy is claiming you love a God you have never seen and yet you hate your brothers and sisters. Before you claim you love God, you must love your brothers and sisters and you must show it.
1 John 4:12; “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
Men are made in the image of the Father. By loving men, we have loved God. When we hate others that means we hate God. No one has ever seen God. We love God by loving others.
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