Increasing Love

Jesus has given me a new command. I am to love others. As he has loved me, so I must love others. By this all men will know that I am his disciple, if I love others. If I love Jesus, I will obey what he commands. By having Jesus's commands and obeying them, I am one who loves him. Because I love Jesus I will be loved by my Father, and Jesus, too, will love me and show himself to me. Nothing in all creation will be able to separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, my Lord. Christ's love compels me, because I am convinced that he died for me. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is with me.

I pray that I, being rooted and established in love, have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that I may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. May the Lord make my love increase and overflow for others. May the Lord direct my heart into God's love and Christ's perseverance. The goal of God's command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

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. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. Love never fails. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. I am to follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. I am to do everything in love. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

(John 13:34; John 14:15, John 14:21; Rom. 8:39; 2 Cor. 5:14; 2 Cor 13:14; Eph. 3:17-19; 1 Thes. 3:12; 2 Thes. 3:5; 1 Tim. 1:5; 1 Cor. 13:1-4, 1 Cor 13:6, 1 Cor 13:8, 1 Cor 13:13; 1 Cor 14:1, 1 Cor 16:14; Gal. 5:6)