Better a bread crust shared in love than a slab of prime
rib served in hate.—Proverbs 15:17

Lots of people claim to be loyal and loving, but where
on earth can you find one?—Proverbs 20:6

Jesus said, “You’re familiar with the old written law,
‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate
your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to
love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you,
not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time,
respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are
working out of your true selves, your God-created
selves.”—Matthew 5:43-45

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and
prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the
first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside
it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two
commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the
Prophets hangs from them.”—Matthew 22:37-40

“Anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that
life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll
have it forever, real and eternal.”—John 12:25

“If you lived on the world’s terms, the world would love
you as one of its own. But since I picked you to live
on God’s terms and no longer on the world’s terms, the
world is going to hate you.”—John 15:19

God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son
in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to
him.—Romans 5:8

Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a
wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no
way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger,
not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing,
not even the worst sins listed in
Scripture. . . .
Nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or
demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or
unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and
God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has
embraced us.—Romans 8:35-36,38-39

Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run
for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be
good friends who love deeply.—Romans 12:9-10

No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m
bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares
more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it
doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, doesn’t have a swelled head,
doesn’t force itself on others, isn’t always “me first,”
doesn’t fly off the handle, doesn’t keep score of the sins
of others, doesn’t revel when others grovel, takes pleasure
in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything,
trusts God always, always looks for the best, never
looks back, but keeps going to the end.
Love never dies.—1 Corinthians 13:3-8

With both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to
take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions
of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth!
Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights!
Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
—Ephesians 3:17-19

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children
who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly
what God does is love you. Keep company with him
and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us.
His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t
love in order to get something from us but to give
everything of himself to us. Love like that. Ephesians 5:1-2

This is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that
you will not only love much but well. Learn to love
appropriately. You need to use your head and test your
feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not
sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and
exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of.—Philippians 1:9-10

The whole point of what we’re urging is simply love—
love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit
faith, a life open to God.—1 Timothy 1:5

Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on
it. Love makes up for practically anything.—1 Peter 4:8

Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s
goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the
Father.—1 John 2:15

Anyone who doesn’t love is as good as dead. . . . This
is how we’ve come to understand and experience love:
Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to
live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be
out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in
need and have the means to do something about it but
turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to
God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s
practice real love.—1 John 3:14-18

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other
since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is
born of God and experiences a relationship with God.
The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first
thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t
know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed
his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so
we might live through him. . . .
If God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love
each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love
one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love
becomes complete in us—perfect love!—1 John 4:7-9,11-12

Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love
both.—1 John 4:21