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A hand-cranked washing machine, “miracle” cough lozenges, a coal stove endorsed by Mrs. Spurgeon, and one painfully memorable first-date outfit all make the same point: time changes almost everything. But there’s one Christian distinctive that’s supposed to stay stubbornly the same in every generation, whether it’s first-century Rome, Victorian London, or your life right now.

We open with the strange but beautiful reality that believers often feel immediate kinship with other believers, even when they’ve just met. Then we turn to 1 Peter 1:22–25, where the main verb is impossible to miss: love one another. We dig into Peter’s foundation for that command: “obedience to the truth” as surrender to the gospel, and a “purified” soul as God’s past act in the new birth. Real Christian love is not a personality trait or good manners. It’s the fruit of being born again through the living and enduring Word of God.

From there, we get concrete about what biblical love looks like: sincere love without masks, fervent love that stretches like an athlete to the limit, and intentional love from the heart that starts as a decision of the will and becomes action. We close with Peter’s incentives to love, our shared family identity in Christ and our shared authority under Scripture that outlasts every trend and empire, plus a final challenge to push the walls of our love wider than we thought possible. If this encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

What does it look like to live a holy life? In In Pursuit of Holiness, Stephen shows you how to think clearly, resist sin, and live differently in a culture that pulls you the other way. Move beyond information to real application. Get your copy today and take your next step with Christ. https://bit.ly/4v5aktw

Learn more: https://www.wisdomonline.org/

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