18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
“Every time we resist the slightest temptation, we honor God. Every time we overcome even the smallest problem by trusting and obeying our Lord Jesus, God is glorified in our lives. Whenever we choose character over convenience, faithfulness over ease, or honesty over deceit, we bring honor to the Lord Himself.” Robert J. Morgan
“The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.” A.W. Tozer
“Religion is, ‘I obey, therefore I’m accepted’. The Gospel is, ‘I’m accepted through what Jesus Christ has done for me, therefore I obey’. Religion gives you control, that’s why it’s so popular...If I am saved by what I can do, then there’s a limit to what God can ask of me. I still have some control. But if I am saved by sheer grace, then there’s nothing He cannot ask of me”. Tim Keller
“The evidence of knowing God is obeying God.” Eric Alexander
“There is no broadminded approach when it comes to entering into the life that God has for you. God doesn't present you with a variety of doors to consider. He doesn't say, ‘Go ahead and pick the door that looks best to you, and after you decide, I will support your decision and bless all that you do.’ It is true that God does have a plan and a purpose for your life, but it can only be entered into through one door. Jesus Christ is that door. There is no other entrance. There is only one Gospel to believe; only one Truth to embrace; only one Shepherd to follow; only one Savior to trust; only one Lord to serve; only one Master to obey.” Roy Lessin
“The Spirit-filled life is no mystery revealed to a select few.......To trust and obey is the substance of the whole matter.” V. Raymond Edman
“The only way to get our values right is to see...not in the light of time but in the light of eternity.” William Barclay
“Clearly, this word (faith) immediately and fundamentally demands lordship, because it has the underlying foundation of obedience, commitment, and submission....When someone believes something, regardless of what it is, that belief changes them and results in some action or behavior that is characteristic of the belief. Every one of the characters in Hebrews 11 had faith, but that faith always, without exception, resulted in an outward action....Truly believing something, being fully persuaded of it, and trusting in it automatically demands behavior that conforms to the belief....To obey Him (Jesus) means we acknowledge His lordship and submit to His authority.” J. D. Watson
“Is God’s definition of love about breaking our happiness — or breaking us free from the self-love that threatens to imprison us all? This is the question that can reshape our world. God is love — doesn’t translate into: God is about my desires. God is love — doesn’t mean God is about self-fulfillment. God is love — means to deny self. Love doesn’t win if you’re really just loving your self.” Ann Voskamp
“There was a majesty in the early saints, who dared to do at God's command things that human reason would condemn. Whether it be a Noah who is to build a ship on dry land, an Abraham who is to offer up his only son, a Moses who is to despise the treasures of Egypt, or a Joshua who is to besiege Jericho for seven days, using no weapons but the blasts of trumpets, they all act upon God's command, contrary to the dictates of human reason; and the Lord gives them a rich reward as the result of their obedient faith. Would to God we had in contemporary Christianity a more potent infusion of this heroic faith in God. If we would venture more upon the naked promise of God, we would enter a world of wonders to which as yet we are strangers.” C. H. Spurgeon revised by Alistair Begg
“To wear an honest spirit, to have a heart void of offense, to have the favor and smile of God is greater riches than all the gold and diamonds in the world. ‘Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it.’ An ounce of contentment is worth a ton of gold.” C. H. Spurgeon revised by Alistair Begg