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Persist in Love

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8

 What Does It Mean to Persist in Love?

When Peter urges believers “above all” to love deeply, he is calling us to make love the highest priority even above gifts, words, or deeds that might seem more impressive to the world. The Greek word used here carries the sense of stretching out, extending, reaching beyond ourselves not a fleeting feeling, but an intentional, enduring stance. Love that persists does not give up when fear, conflict, or danger arises. It resists the religious temptation to withdraw or retreat when the world gets hard.

Jesus modeled this love not as a luxury, but as lifeline — even unto death. Persistent love refuses to recoil from suffering, injustice, or pain; it presses into the wounds of the world and stays. It is the love that covers, that protects, that holds firm when everything around us seems to unravel.

Love in a Broken World

Right now, communities across the United States are grieving and protesting after the deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti — civilians shot and killed by federal immigration agents during enforcement actions in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their deaths have sparked protests, calls for justice, and deep pain among families, neighbors, and communities nationwide. Thousands have rallied in cities like Minneapolis, San Francisco, and New York demanding accountability and honoring these lives lost and showing the human cost behind headlines and statistics.

At the same time, other parts of our country have been hit another type of ice  –  severe winter weather ice storms in Tennessee leaving thousands without power, in the cold, sometimes without adequate shelter or food. In Nashville and elsewhere, entire neighborhoods have been plunged into darkness for days, forcing families and individuals into precarious situations where the warmth of community matters as much as the warmth of heat.

In these moments where loss and suffering collide persistent love is not abstract, it is concrete. It is the neighbor who delivers food to someone without heat. It is the stranger who opens their home to someone displaced. It is the protester who cries out for justice while refusing to return hate for hatred. It is the community that gathers in vigil and prayer when words fail. We have seen demonstrations of what it truly means to above all love your neighbor.

Let’s Act: Love That Endures

How do we, as faithful people rooted in the love of Christ, respond to both personal and communal grief?

1. Remember that love must be active

Persistent love doesn’t wait for the storm to pass. It shows up with blankets, with food, with presence. Love enters the suffering of others rather than patting them on the back from a safe distance.

2. Love does not ignore justice

To love deeply means to stand for justice. Jesus did not separate love from justice; He embodied both. When we see systems that lead to death, displacement, or despair, loving deeply means we call them into account with courage, compassion, and truth.

3. Love that perseveres prays without ceasing

We pray not only for peace but for transformation in hearts, in communities, in systems that govern life. Persistent love means we pray for those who are hurting, for those in power, and for ourselves when faith feels weak.

4. Love bears one another’s burdens

When neighbors lose power and warmth, when families mourn deaths that make headlines, love steps in —with meals, shelter, resources, and gospel care. Love that persists bears what others cannot bear alone.

5. Love does not lose hope

Persistent love trusts that God is still at work even when pain seems too great to overcome. Love anchors us to hope, hope anchors us to God.

Let’s Pray:

Gracious God, In a world fractured by sorrow and loss, teach us to love with unwavering devotion. When tragedy strikes whether through flood, storm, violence, or systems that harm fill us with your spirit of compassion. Lord, we lift the names of those who have died,
their families who grieve, and communities that cry out for justice. May your love surround them, and may your truth rise in the hearts of all who seek peace and righteousness.

Help us to love not just with words, but with actions that reflect your justice, mercy, and grace. Expand our hearts beyond fear and root us firmly in your hope. Let our love be persistent, steadfast in the hard places, present in every struggle, and radiant with the hope you give. We pray for those without shelter, those without heat, food, or comfort, and those whose voices are unheard. Use us, O Lord, to be your hands and feet, bringing hope where hope is dim, and love where love seems absent. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Persisting in love,

Rev. Sondrea L. Tolbert, J.D., M.Div.

Executive Director & CEO

One of our very own, Rickey Washington, that renders radical hospitality to our guests in catering needs some persist love. When the power was restored to his home that he lived in with his parents, the house engulfed in flames. A GoFundMe account has been set up for his family. Would you please join us in sharing love during this trying time to one who offers consistent radical hospitality. The Washington Family would greatly appreciate it. Click here to make a donation.