But we do not love people for what they do for us. Love happens to us; it isn't created.

I want ordinary corrupt human love

The church is to be set apart (sanctified) not by possessing a special religious piety but by participating in and manifesting the perfect eternal love of God. As Bonhoeffer said, "Jesus calls men, not to a new religion, but to life.

God doesn't depend primarily on the words of his disciples, nor on their clever apologetic arguments, nor on their ability to concoct ingenious marketing techniques. God relies on his disciples participating in the love that he is and thus replicating it toward each other within the body and toward all others outside the body.

The central mark of a maturing Christian, and of a maturing congregation, is that they increasingly love others as Christ loves them.

Our fundamental job is to love like God loves, not to pretend that we know what only God knows.

These observations strongly support the understanding that "us" refers to God in his Triune nature, and therefore, that the imago Dei refers to our relationality. Like God, we are created to live life as an "us," not just as an "I."

The challenge, then, is not first and foremost to love like Christ. The challenge is to live in Christ's love, for only then can we love as Christ loved. And as with everything else about our lives, this can only be done in each present moment.

Love is the all-or-nothing of the kingdom of God. Above all we are to love (Col. 3:14; 1 Peter 4:8). Everything we do is to be done in love and, thus, communicate love (1 Cor. 16:14). We are to imitate God by living in Christlike love (Eph. 5:1—2), and if we do this, we fulfill the whole law (Matt. 22:37—40; Rom. 13:8—10). If we lack this, everything else we do is devoid of kingdom value, however impressive it might otherwise be (1 Cor. 13:1—3).

Some of the worst violence in the world today between estranged religious and ethnic groups happens not on the battlefields. It happens smack in the middle of living rooms and between people who share a lot, who have a lot in common.

The man I love may decide tomorrow that he loves me no more - but if my heart remains open, I will endure the storm.

Tennis just a game, family is forever.