Real Love:

God is Love.  Love is God.  Love is fulfillment of the Law.  Love is righteousness.

Without God, there is no True love. Without True love, you do not know God. You must find True Love, the God Who is True  Love. True love, of course, does not conform to the false love or the gods of Hollywood.  You must find The True Love, Who is the creator of the universe. For this purpose, you were created--to find True love.  But how do you find True Love, the God of True Love, when there are so many counterfeits out there?

You must be born again, of course.  You are born again by believing in Jesus.  That tears down the division that was between you and God/Love.

Love Hates Lies and Rejoices in Reality/Truth

Wisdom as a Process and this is the Process of Being Built Up In Love:

God does all the work.  Righteousness and Holiness are Free Gifts (Grace) from God.  Righteousness is Love.  It is True Love.  True Love is the fulfillment of God's Law.  Holiness is stability in that Love.  Righteousness and Holiness are part of salvation. Even the faith that gives access to Grace is a Free Gift from God--it is God's faith, not our own.

Wisdom moves from taking spiritual ground from the enemy to holding ground and finally moving on to total victory. 

Wisdom goes from doing right things right by God's Spirit to being set free from bondage and entering into ever-increasing stability of mind and action, and then going on to final complete fulfillment, which is total redemption.  Another way to say this is that wisdom moves in the thoughts, words, and actions that flow in love, which changes your very nature to be like Christ until you are fully transfigured to be like Him.

Wisdom is the principle thing, therefore get wisdom.  (Prov 4:7) The Scripture tells us that God has made Christ to be Wisdom to us.  Christ is Wisdom.  Without Christ, there is no Wisdom.  Not only this, but from a practical standpoint, wisdom consists of righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. (1Cor 1:30) Jesus is the Way.  Righteousness, sanctification, and redemption are the three parts of the Way that build on each other.

 
1. Righteousness has everything to do with love.  Righteousness is in the moment.  Righteousness is the work that God does through you by His faith and grace. 
 
2. Sanctification has everything to do with love.  Sanctificationis progressive.  By the righteousness that God does through you, He changes what you are, which is sanctification.  Sanctification or holiness is the forming of Christ fully in you.  The battle is now mainly for the mind. Holiness is stability and is what you are becoming. 
 
3. Redemption has everything to do with love.  Redemption is the fullness of having Christ in you and you being in Christ, in His Body.  It cannot be separated from the Body of Christ of Christ the Head.  When it is complete, it is the full maturity and unity of the Body of Christ and Christ, the Head of the Body.

God has a process to have us grow up into Christ. God's way is through the Church, the true Body of Christ. God's process is by the Holy Spirit. It is by the free gift of wisdom.

The Church is both the mechanism by which God does this work and the finishing of the work.  He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.  Revelation 3:12

Four types of love are mentioned in the Bible:

All love comes from God.  There is no other source of true love.  Someone may ask, "Then what about unbelievers who love their spouses or love their children or love their friends?"  Four types of love are mentioned in the Bible. 

There is a Greek word, phileo, that means brotherly love.  This is the kind of love that is based on common interests, common goals, or personalities that just seem to get along well. 

Then, there is another Greek word, eros, for self-gratifying "love." Eros is focused on one's self and what it can get, often in terms of pleasure.  It cares nothing for others because it is too busy using others and taking advantage of them--although it may impersonate affection to get what it wants.  It often may even fool the person displaying eros into thinking that the eros is actually true love.  This type of "love" gives many people a very warped view of sex. 

The Greek word, storge, refers to the kind of love that occurs naturally between family members, which is a good gift from God.  It is that powerful love that sweeps over a mother when she gives birth.  It is the love between brothers and sisters.  God built natural affection into every person just as He put a conscience in every person.  The word, storge, is never used in the Bible, but astorgos, without natural affection, is mentioned twice.  Some are so evil that they even lack natural affection for members of their own family, their parents, spouse, siblings, or children.  This is not how they were created, however. 

The type of love that we are most concerned with is the supernatural love.  This is the love that God is.  This love goes beyond natural affection.  You were created to literally flow with this kind of love in mighty, flowing streams as you tap into the all-powerful Source of this love.  This love is available only through Christ who reconciles us to the almighty God who created all things.  The Greek word for the supernatural kind of love is agape.

Looking to God to understand love and centering on 1 Corinthians 13, we find that love is patient, kind, humble, polite, serving others, self-controlled, forgiving, good, and truth-loving.  Love is not envious, boastful nor desiring recognition nor proud, rude, self-seeking nor wanting to be served, quick-tempered, unforgiving, entertained by evil, nor does love seek out a lie.  This is the agape love, the love that is only available as it flows from the throne of God.  And this love is related to faith, true faith.

Since love is so closely related to faith, the fact that faith has been re-defined will have a devastating effect on receiving the love that is of God.  Sometimes we use the word, faith, and we really mean a rationalized belief.  Sometimes we may refer to a religious organization and call it a faith.  Sometimes the word, faith, is used to refer to a doctrine.  Real, genuine, faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, Hebrews 11:1.  Whatever is not of faith is sin, Romans 14:23.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word (literally, utterance) of God, Romans 10:17.  Looking into  1 Corinthians 13 in the fourth verse, it says, "charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up."  That is to say, love is humble; it doesn't brag; it has no pride.  Understanding just who you are in reality has a lot to do with understanding the exact function of faith, hope, grace, and love.  By the way, humility does not imply that you must beat yourself up and think of yourself as something less than God thinks of you.

Love is the fulfillment of the law, Romans 13:8-10.  Sin is breaking the law, 1 John 3:4.  Love is what righteousness is and has many facets as 1 Corinthians 13 says.  God is love.  We cannot have righteousness without having God.  We cannot have love without having God.  In fact, righteousness is a free gift from God, Romans 5:17.  The children of Israel made the mistake of trying to establish their own righteousness and so they missed out on this free gift of God's righteousness, which God was willing to give them at no cost, Romans 10:3.  Trying to put a little love in our hearts or to live by a set of rules is futile.

If we try to live by laws and rules, we will either live in self-condemnation or we will live in self-righteousness.  If we recognize the fullness of God's law, and we try to obey it by our own power or our own righteousness, then we will condemn ourselves because we will fall short.  Far more often, we see people who modify God's law into a set of rules that they can fulfill.  They lower the bar until they can fulfill their rules.  That always brings self-righteousness and pride.  God's law is clear.  Human beings cannot fulfill it without the process described in the Bible.  This is the righteousness, the love,  that is a free gift.  This is the righteousness that is by grace and through faith.  God does His works through us, and it is by the free gift, grace, and that grace is only available through faith.  What actually happens is that God loves through us.

We need to ask God to help us to let Him love through us.  For the person that I'm having trouble loving at home, at work, at church, Lord, help me to let You love this person through me.  We can do the works of God if we will believe in Him to the point that we let Him work through us.  When we try to generate our own love, it is like trying to generate our own good works.  In fact it is exactly the same thing. 

The reason that we must let God love through us has to do with the way righteousness and love operate, Romans 10:17.  God speaks to us.  We respond.  Faith is born in us by the power of God.  Faith opens the door to grace, Romans 5:2.  Grace flows in and does God's works through us, Romans 6:13.  Whatever is not of faith is sin, Romans 14:23.  In other words, anything that we do that God did not lead us into and anything in which God did not do the work through us is sin.  That narrow way is very narrow indeed, Matthew 7:13-14.  So it is plain that we are totally dependent on God to have love or to do any good work. 

(some caveats about hearing God's Voice)

It is all about a relationship with God:

The only way to have more love is to have a closer relationship with God who is love.  The only way to have more faith is to walk more closely with God and to listen to Him, obey Him, when He speaks.  Jesus wants that close relationship and He communicates with us through the Bible, through our conscience, through His creation, through a word of knowledge, through another Christian, and in many other ways.  He is concerned about every part of our lives.  Our minds were never created to be disconnected from God, but we were designed to flow in communion with Him at all times.  When He speaks, faith comes.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by a word, literally an utterance, of God, Romans 10:17.  Faith gives us access to grace, Romans 5:2.  Hebrews 12:27-29 tells us that it is through Grace that we are able to serve God. Romans 5:18-21 tells us that grace reigns through righteousness.  This righteousness is a free gift from God.  That's what grace means, free gift.  It is a free gift, and if we will yield our hands, feet, ears, eyes, and mind to this righteousness of God, then God will do His work through us, Romans 6:13.  God will love through us.  So, when someone is unlovable, we can pray that God would help us to allow Him to love that unlovable person through us.

When I allow Christ to love through me...

When I love and seek the Lord Jesus...

When I listen to Him and yield myself to Him so that He can think, speak, and act through me...

Then I can do all things through Christ who is my only strength. 

Without Him, I can do nothing.

Scripture:  

God's Love for His People:  

Deuteronomy 7:7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:

Deuteronomy 7:13 And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware to thy fathers to give thee.

Isaiah 38:17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

Isaiah 63:9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

Jeremiah 31:3 The LORD hath appeared of old to me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

Ezekiel 16:8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware to thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Romans 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

2 Thessalonians 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

Titus 3:4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,

1 John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

1 John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

The Results of Love:

Deuteronomy 19:9 If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three:

Deuteronomy 30:16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

Deuteronomy 30:20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave to him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Judges 5:31 So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.

Nehemiah 1:5 And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:

psalm 5:11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.

psalm 31:23 O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.

psalm 69:36 The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein.

psalm 91:14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

psalm 97:10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

psalm 119:132 Look thou upon me, and be merciful to me, as thou usest to do to those that love thy name.

psalm 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

psalm 145:20 The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.

Proverbs 8:17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.

Proverbs 8:21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.

Proverbs 8:36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

John 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

1 Corinthians 8:3 But if any man love God, the same is known of him.

1 Corinthians 16:22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.

Ephesians 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Ephesians 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body to the edifying of itself in love.

Ephesians 6:24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

Colossians 2:2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;

Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

James 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

God will be Your Love in You:

Deuteronomy 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

Hosea 14:4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

John 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

John 17:26 And I have declared to them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us.

2 Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

Galatians 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called to liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

Ephesians 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Philippians 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;

1 Thessalonians 3:12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:

1 Thessalonians 4:9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write to you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

1 Thessalonians 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

2 Thessalonians 3:5 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

1 Timothy 1:14 And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 1:13 Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

1 John 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

1 John 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

1 John 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Jude 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.

False Love and Perverted Love:

2 Samuel 13:4 And he said to him, Why art thou, being the king's son, lean from day to day? wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said to him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.

2 Samuel 13:15 Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, Arise, be gone.

1 Kings 11:2 Of the nations concerning which the LORD said to the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in to you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave to these in love.

psalm 4:2 O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.

psalm 109:5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

Proverbs 1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

Proverbs 7:18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.

Jeremiah 2:33 Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.

Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

Ezekiel 23:11 And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.

Ezekiel 23:17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.

Ezekiel 33:31 And they come to thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.

Hosea 4:18 Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.

Matthew 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

John 5:42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.

John 8:42 Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

2 Corinthians 12:15 And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.

How Love Works & What Love Is:

Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.

Proverbs 15:17 Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.

Proverbs 17:9 He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

Proverbs 27:5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.

Song of Solomon 8:6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

Song of Solomon 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

Isaiah 61:8 For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him.

John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

Romans 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Romans 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Romans 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

Romans 12:10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

2 Corinthians 2:4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly to you.

Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Ephesians 4:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

1 Timothy 6:11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Philemon 1:5 Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints;

Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works:

1 Peter 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit to unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

2 John 1:6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Commands or Promises of Love:

Titus 2:4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

James 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

1 Peter 2:17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:

1 John 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

1 John 3:17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

1 John 4:21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

2 John 1:5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.

2 John 1:6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Jude 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.

Commands or Promises of Love:

Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be to you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Deuteronomy 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

Deuteronomy 10:19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 11:1 Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.

Deuteronomy 11:13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently to my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

Deuteronomy 13:3 Thou shalt not hearken to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 30:16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

Deuteronomy 30:20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave to him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Joshua 22:5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Joshua 23:11 Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.

Judges 5:31 So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.

psalm 31:23 O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.

Matthew 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Matthew 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Matthew 19:19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Matthew 22:37 Jesus said to him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Matthew 22:39 And the second is like to it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Mark 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Mark 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Luke 6:27 But I say to you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

Luke 6:32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.

Luke 6:35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil.

Luke 7:42 And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?

Luke 10:27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

Luke 11:42 But woe to you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

John 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.

John 21:15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest [agape] thou me more than these? He saith to him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love [phileo] thee. He saith to him, Feed my lambs.

John 21:16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest [agape] thou me? He saith to him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love [phileo] thee. He saith to him, Feed my sheep.

John 21:17 He saith to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest [phileo] thou me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said to him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love [phileo] thee. Jesus saith to him, Feed my sheep.

Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

Ephesians 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

Ephesians 5:33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

Philippians 2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

Philippians 2:2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

Colossians 3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

Fake Love:

There are many false definitions of love, and it is harder than ever to tell the difference between true love and the many things that are falsely called love.  All true, authentic, love comes from God.  Counterfeit love, on the other hand, can be had without God.  Think of all the love songs and also the songs that have been written to tell us about love.  All we need is love.  What the world needs now is love, sweet love.  And the many romance novels seem to sell very well, plus the many books written to teach us about love.  People are hungry for love.  They want to get beyond the surface and have the genuine true love.  Since they seem somewhat frustrated in finding satisfaction, they turn to all types of substitutes for the genuine and real love.  This is the cause for addictions, the search for satisfaction in substitutes that cannot satisfy.  Many people go against everything they believe and hold dear just to be accepted and loved, and, in the end, they somehow miss the mark of what they were hoping for.  Some will try to put money, fame, fortune, success, power, prestige, possessions, or personal appearance in the place that was meant for love, and they find that this leads them to an empty and hollow existence.  Some people just shut down and stop trying. True love is vitally important to fulfillment.

Even though love is so important, how many people really understand that true love is spiritual and not emotional?  Oh, it may affect our emotions, but everything that is genuine will affect our emotions, and a lot of things that are not real will also affect our emotions.  You have to decide whether you want what is real and lasting or you want what is deceptive and temporary.  If you desire the genuine and forever kind of love, then you need to find out from God what love is and how love is related to such other powerful spiritual things as faith, hope, righteousness, and holiness.  You need to find out about the different kinds of love and what they are all about.

The many common misconceptions of the culture can keep us from entering into that deep, spiritual love, which affects our spiritual health.  A 2009 Barna poll shows that 81% of self-identified Christians endorse the notion that spiritual health means "trying hard to follow the rules described in the Bible."  This in spite of the fact that Paul told the Galatian church that, if they are trying to finish the work that God started by trying hard to follow the rules, then they are making the grace of God of no effect, Galatians 2:21.  Self-generated "love," like the kind of "love" that is generated by trying really hard to follow a set of rules, just frustrates God's free gift of love.  We may try to have both the supernatural love, agape love, that comes from God alone and also the kinds of love that we try to generate by self-effort.  So, we can have self-generated love or we can supernatural love, but the two are not compatible. Only one is true and authentic.

The counterfeit love we hear most about is the kind of love that people "fall" into.  Misunderstanding this type of love is the cause of an awful lot of misery.  A man and woman "fall in love."  They experience what is basically an electro-chemical reaction, which lasts anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of years.  The feeling is euphoric and temporary.  For those who lack understanding, they say, "The feeling is gone."  Then they move on to their next relationship--or marriage--in hopes that this new relationship will last.  It will not.  The feeling is temporary. Lasting "feelings of love" must be cultivated.

The second most promoted form of counterfeit love is the kind of love that says, "Smile on your brother.  Everybody get together, and try to love one another right now," and "Put a little love in your heart."  This is the self-generated--without God--type of love.  Those who are deceived by this are proclaiming a commandment, which is the commandment that actually does come from God.  The trouble is that they are trying to have love without the God who is love.  They are trying to do what is impossible, have love without God.  This form of love often turns into a kind of love that is used to promote politicians and entertainers so they can get more money and power.  They want to be sincere, but they are being fooled by a deceptive lie.  Even some churches are promoting this lie in the form of a social gospel and often a political gospel--a gospel with human-generated righteousness and human-generated love.