Galations 5:22&23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."

I Corinthians 13:4-8 "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."

I John 4:16 "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."

When the Pharisee which was a lawyer asked Jesus, "Which is the great commandment," in Matthew 22:36, Jesus answered: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)

So - we are supposed to love God first and our neighbor second but that's not all. Matthew 5:44 says "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;" So if we are to love God, our neighbor and our enemy, that pretty much covers everyone, doesn't it? (There is no room for hate in a Chritian's life.)

I John 2:15-17 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

We are admonished in the scriptures above to not fall in love with the things of the world. They will all pass away some day. There will be a life after death and where you abide in that life totally depends on where your love lies in this life!

Love is the first fruit mentioned of the nine fruits of the Spirit. Does that make it the most important? I think Jesus thought it was perhaps the most important character trait a person possessed. Or else He would not have said it was the first and great commandment.

If you are harboring ill feelings toward someone, you are in the wrong. I don't care what that person did to you and I don't care if they didn't ask for forgivness. God said you had to forgive them anyway. You don't have to go to their house and get down on your knees and say, "I forgive you." But until you really forgive them in your heart for whatever they did to you, you will have no peace. (And you will be in the wrong.) You must love your enemies, bless them that curse you and do good to them that hate you. (God said that, I didn't ... if you don't like it, argue with Him!) Pray about it. If you can't straighten it out with the person you're not getting along with, if they won't respond to you, then at least straighten it out in your own heart and with God. You'll feel a lot better for it! Someone asked me not long ago, "How do you love someone who hates you, how do you get along with a neighbor who won't speak to you." If someone won't respond to you there isn't anything you can do about it. You can pray for them and you can not hate them but that's about all you can do in those situations. There are going to be some difficult people come into your life that you aren't compatibe with, there will be people who will be jealous of you and won't want to be your friend, and still others who will just take a disliking to you for some reason. When that happens you just have to be as nice as you can to them and keep your distance. But, there is no room for hate in a Chritians life. And if you are harboring that emotion you need to get rid if it right now!

Jesus said in John 15:9 that He loves us as much as His Father loves Him and then He admonishes us to continue in His love. If we all practiced the love of Christ in our every day lives there would be peace on the whole earth.

See also:
Charity
First Love
A Mother's Love
Destroyed By Love
The Greatest Commandment