“Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”
—Colossians 3:14

Throughout his letters Paul tells us that love is above all else. Yet for many years as a young believer I didn’t think much about love. I just thought about conquering. You know how men can be; we like to conquer, and as believers in Yeshua we are given power to conquer in life—to overcome trials, temptations, and the powers of darkness. But that is not our greatest strength. The greatest gift we have been given is the ability to love.

I want to encourage you today to think about this: if we are not walking in love, we are not abiding in Yeshua, because He is love. One of our missions as followers of Christ is to overcome evil with good, and the greatest good of all is love. In life there’s so much division, so much criticism, so much accusation. But criticism and accusation are not from the Lord. They are from the enemy. Love brings people together.

If you can walk in love, you’ll walk in victory. But walking in love is a choice. Love isn’t a feeling; love is a choice. Jesus asked, What credit is it to us if we only love our friends? (See Luke 6:32–36.) It feels good to love our friends, but Jesus is calling us to overcome and conquer. He’s calling us to love our enemies. He’s calling us to choose to walk in love.

Often that means doing what we don’t feel like doing. Jesus modeled that kind of love when He was about to go to the cross. He said, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will” (Matt. 26:39). Jesus didn’t want to die on the cross, but because of His love for the Father He did what He didn’t feel like doing and gave His life for us.

In the same way, beloved, we need to choose love, even when it doesn’t feel good. We need to overcome evil with good. We need to learn to overlook offense. We need to bring people together in unity. Unity brings life; division causes death. We need to walk in love. If you can do this, you’ll have achieved the greatest victory of all.

Father God, thank You for humbling Yourself and dying on the cross for my sins. As You chose love, even when it hurt, I now choose to love those around me. I choose to cover them in prayer and bring people together in unity. I choose to walk in love.

Rabbi Kirt A. Schneider, Rivers of Revelation (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2020), Used by permission.