"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

If anyone hits you on one cheek, let him hit the other one too; if someone takes your coat, let him have your shirt as well.

Do for others just what you want them to do for you.

If any Israelites living near you become poor and cannot support themselves, you must provide for them as you would for a hired worker, so that they can continue to live near you.

Do not make them pay interest on the money you lend them, and do not make a profit on the food you sell them.

At all times they give freely and lend to others, and their children are a blessing.

Happy is the person who is generous with his loans, who runs his business honestly.

When you give to the poor, it is like lending to the LORD, and the LORD will pay you back.

Be generous and share your food with the poor. You will be blessed for it.

But God has shown us how much he loves us---it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us!

We were God's enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Now that we are God's friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ's life!

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as he was, he made himself poor for your sake, in order to make you rich by means of his poverty.

But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

so that you may become the children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil.

If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples."

My Father's glory is shown by your bearing much fruit; and in this way you become my disciples.

Here is the clear difference between God's children and the Devil's children: those who do not do what is right or do not love others are not God's children.

We must not be like Cain; he belonged to the Evil One and murdered his own brother Abel. Why did Cain murder him? Because the things he himself did were wrong, and the things his brother did were right.

We know that we have left death and come over into life; we know it because we love others. Those who do not love are still under the power of death.

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God.

And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him.

Dear friends, if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another.

He is good to everyone and has compassion on all he made.

But he has always given evidence of his existence by the good things he does: he gives you rain from heaven and crops at the right times; he gives you food and fills your hearts with happiness."