What does it mean to love each other deeply?  And how do we get there?  I believe this is one area where the church has failed.  I know I have personally failed in this area for many years.  Too many of my relationships in the past were to simply benefit me, and when they no longer served a purpose, they were forgotten. 

I have attended at least a dozen churches or groups on a regular basis and met 1000s of people. Yet there are only a few who stand out in my mind as expressing deep love.   And only a few whom I can say that I may have loved deeply.  This is my own fault.

Perhaps one of my greatest sins, in not loving others the way we ought to.  In the past few months, I have been making new friends and have gotten reacquainted with some old ones.  I am trying to do better.

1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

I’m going to be brutally honest here, about myself and make a confession.  Keep in mind, I am trying to do better.  I have a hard time relating to and bonding with many people and dealing with them and sometimes for some very shallow reasons.  Too often, I have little patience. This is my personal weakness,

And it is difficult for me to love them.  But I know God loves them with a deep unconditional love.  The same kind of love we are supposed to have for one another, the same kind of love we are meant to become.

There are so many faces in my mind of people I have seen at church and I have either forgotten their names or never knew them.  Because I failed to love them deeply.  Did I mention I am trying to do better?

I have been using AI to help me with my blogs, and one of them was summarized as having a purpose driven life.  I did not even see that way at first, and I believe there is also a book by a similar title. As I have stated a few times in previous blogs, our purpose is to become love, to become like God.

And it is up to us to pursue that purpose, failure to do so is perhaps the greatest sin.  Of which I have been guilty for many years.  This is also why I have failed to love deeply those around me. 

When we fail to love deeply the ones God brings into our lives, we fail to advance His kingdom. Perhaps this blog ought to be called “Advancing the Kingdom of God.” That is the purpose of the church.  And it must be done by individuals on an individual basis. 

When we fail to love deeply, it is impossible to overlook the faults, flaws and sins of those around us.  We fail to forgive them, and darkness remains or even advances.

Many people are turned off by the Bible, and turned off by talk about God or Jesus.  But the heart of it all is simply to love one another, to forgive one another, and to be forgiven.  I cannot comprehend why anyone would not desire that.  Walking in love gives us a life of peace, happiness, and joy. 

But sin is fun and we often choose fun over happiness, however sin has built in punishment can brings depression, stress, anxiety, guilt, and shame.  It does not cause those things because it is sin, it is sin because it causes those things.  And God desires the best for us because He loves us.  That is why he gave us guidelines to follow and avoid sin. 

The flesh is week and we all sin.  No one is immune to temptation and sin.  If we want to be loved by others, then others must overlook our flaws and sin.  So we must do the same for them.  The only way to do that is to love deeply.