Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, July 15, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Love one another deeply from the heart. I love this. In fact, I feel a strong connection with any scripture passage that exhorts us to have true, unconditional love for one another. It’s such a cliché to say “love is the answer” or “all you need is love” but the reason it’s a cliché is that it’s true. I’m not talking romantic love or just having positive feelings for people who are like us. I’m talking about love as a radical, transformative action. This kind of love calls us out of our comfort zones and into open dialog and compassion. It calls us to sacrifice our selfish wants and share all we have and all we are. When we’re in that state of love, we build deep, meaningful connections with our neighbors, which can only result in joy. Who wouldn’t want that?
How do I define “love”?