1Joh4:8God is
love.
Love
1Joh3:16This
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. 17If
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? 18Dear
children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This
then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at
rest in his presence 20whenever
our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows
everything.
21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24Those 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.
1Cor13:1If I speak in the
tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or
a clanging cymbal. 2If
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. 3If
I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have
not love, I gain nothing.
4Love
is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5It
is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no
record of wrongs. 6Love
does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It
always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love
never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there
are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For
we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but
when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When
I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a
child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now
we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now
I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And
now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the
greatest of these is love.
1Cor14:1Follow
the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift
of prophecy.
Love people, doing
the following with sincerity and eagerness, earnestness:
Be kind and gentle, encouraging and building up.
Be gracious, humble, and submissive, honoring and esteeming others as better and more important than
yourself.
Be considerate, quick to listen and slow to speak.
Be compassionate, merciful, and forgiving, empathetic and sympathetic.
Patiently bear with people, with long-suffering and tolerance.
Deny yourself to serve others, bear their burdens, give them your material things and yourself, please
them and do good to them, seek their good, look to their interests.
Pray for people and show them the gospel.
Scripture quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.