This devotional will be different because the subject demands honesty and clarity, and I feel strongly enough about it to address it directly. Last week marked the beginning of Pride Month for those in the LGBTQ+ community, and since then, I’ve seen many Christians make sweeping remarks that reduce people to stereotypes rather than seeing them as individuals made in God’s image. The verses below illustrate how God defines love, whom He commands us to love, and whether that love has boundaries. The truth is that God places no limits on the scope of love, and if Scripture calls us to anything, it calls us to love without restriction.
1 Corinthians 13:1-8 CSB – If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends…
1 John 4:16-29 CSB – And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. In this, love is made complete with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love. We love because he first loved us…
Colossians 3:12–14 CSB – Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
Who are we to love?
- The Lord your God
- Your neighbor.
- The hungry.
- The thirsty.
- The stranger.
- The naked.
- The sick.
- The prisoner.
- One another.
- The widow.
- The fatherless (orphan).
- The resident alien (immigrant).
- The poor.
Matthew 22:36-39 CSB – “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 25:35-40 CSB – “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’ “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Zechariah 7:8-10 CSB – The word of the Lord came to Zechariah: “The Lord of Armies says this: ‘Make fair decisions. Show faithful love and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the resident alien or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’
Scripture’s definition of love is both beautiful and challenging because it requires far more than polite behavior or surface-level kindness. These passages describe love as patient, sacrificial, hopeful, and enduring, and they link love directly to the character of God Himself. We learn that love is not optional for the believer but central to the life of faith, because remaining in love is evidence that we remain in God. We also learn that love forms the bond of unity among believers, even when backgrounds or convictions differ. If love is the perfect bond of unity, then withholding it disrupts what God intends to hold together.
The scope of the command to love is also wide, and Scripture leaves no ambiguity about who falls within that call. Jesus teaches us to love our neighbor, and He defines neighbor in a way that leaves no room for exclusions. The list includes the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the prisoner, the widow, the orphan, the immigrant, and the poor. Jesus identifies Himself with the least of these and teaches that what we do for them, we do for Him. That truth removes any opportunity to practice selective compassion or conditional affection. When God commands us to love our neighbor, He doesn’t include exceptions based on lifestyle, identity, or circumstance.
I have several friends in the LGBTQ+ community, and as our friendships have grown, trust has formed through consistent love rather than judgment. Because of the way those relationships have developed, they’ve become open to hearing about Christ in ways that never would have happened had I approached them with condemnation. It wasn’t always this way for me, because the church in which I was raised held strong negative attitudes toward the LGBTQ+ community, and I absorbed those attitudes without questioning them. The person who began changing that trajectory was Terry Morrison. I worked with Terry in my first IT job, and he was a Christian who became a mentor and friend. Later, after a difficult season in his life, he shared that he was gay, and my reaction revealed more about my own heart than about his identity.
I withdrew from him and allowed judgment to override our friendship, which caused it to unravel. When construction forced us into a small shared office, I even complained to HR because I didn’t want to work in the same room with him. HR refused that request, and I found myself sitting across from a man I used to call a friend while carrying attitudes that didn’t reflect Christ. After weeks of silence and tension, Terry broke the ice with a simple joke, and it felt as if the wall between us shattered instantly. He chose love when I had chosen bitterness. It was humbling, and it forced me to see that Terry was still the same man who had supported me, taught me, and encouraged me. His integrity and kindness did far more to expose my failings than anything else could have.
That experience reshaped me. It revealed how easily Christians can slip into patterns of judgment that overshadow God’s call to love. It taught me that, regardless of a person’s background, beliefs, or lifestyle, I choose to love them. Someone may say, “But the Bible says this or that,” yet Scripture is abundantly clear that love stands as the first command and the greatest evidence of belonging to Christ. When we lead with love, everything else finds its proper place, and the urgency to correct fades beneath the responsibility to care. Love the person, the whole person, and you’ll reveal a reflection of Christ they may never see otherwise.