Love

One of the defining things of being a Christian is love. We are commanded in several places in the Bible to love one another and to put other before ourselves. There are too many people that do not do this, or do it hesitantly. We, the body of Christ, need to come together and be there for others out of a genuine heart. 

God's love is perfect and of the greatest gifts He gives us. He loved us so much that He allowed Jesus to be put to death on the cross for us. 

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

How are we repaying the Father and  Son for such a selfless sacrifice? We are taking them out of every aspect of our lives we possibly can, then when something happens we wonder why they are not there. 

We are becoming a very judgemental society, I just did this as a matter of fact without realizing it. My wife had a picture of a dad spanking a child with some thug looking kids underneath it and the caption basically said if there was more spankings we would have less of those types of kids. I said I didn't want my kids to end up like that and I was judging those kids based on their appearances. That was wrong. Now back to topic.

We should focus on loving each other as family out of a genuine desire to help and follow God's guidelines. We should not be rude, disrespectful, or hateful toward others these things not only make us feel bad mentally and physically but the create a distance between us and God. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 John 3:1

See what kind of love our Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God, and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Romans 14:19

So then let us pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding. 

Ephesians 4:2

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,