Love is the measure of all things in the kingdom

I have already written a post on this topic, but it bears repeating. Love covers over all things, and the clearest mark of the Christian given by Paul, by John, and of course, by Jesus is our love.

This means not the large acts of charity, but the small ones. Define how well you love by how well you act in the smallest areas. Look at your patience, your gentleness with others.

Love involves understanding, transporting yourself into another person. The most profound view of love is the husband's love shown in Ephesians 5. The husband is to love his wife "as his own body." In other words, he is to respond to her needs as to his own...think of it this way. When you touch something hot, you instinctively move to protect your hand. When you itch, you instinctively act to ease your discomfort. Imagine this kind of responsiveness to the needs of another.

There is some of this in our love for others. But love also involves a radical self-skepticism, knowing that we are prone to self-love and self-protection in all our actings. We can easily convince ourself that actions which spring from a wicked self-interest are really done out of love.

This is my experience, judged through the lens of Scripture.