Devotions: All You Need is Love

 

In addition to all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Colossians 3:14 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

 

In addition to what things? The previous two verses talk about putting on humility, compassion, kindness, gentleness and forgiveness because we have been chosen and saved by God. Those are all good, necessary characteristics of a Christian, but the most important is love. None of those mean anything without love, and to be honest we really can’t have those genuinely apart from love. Without love, kindness is merely being polite. Compassion is just pity. And forgiveness… probably won’t even happen. Love is the beginning of all godliness because it is God Himself. We cannot have God without love, nor the other way around because God is love. We need to put on love first so that the others can develop genuinely.

Another good result of love is that it is the basis of unity. Within the body of Christ, we cannot have true unity without love for one another, and we can’t love each other without that bond of unity and harmony. That does not mean that we agree on everything, or that we always get along, but that we agree to disagree, that we don’t hold things against each other, that we work together for the good of the body rather than ourselves. That is true love; putting others first, so we can’t have unity without love. It is the source of all godliness and unity.

How is your heart? Have you put on love? How do you feel toward others? Is there anyone you particularly don’t like, or that you are holding something against? Ask God to fill your heart with His love, and to help you love others as He does. Ask Him to help you seek unity above your own preferences or agenda (even if it’s a good one).

 

 

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