This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.
John 15:12-14

Throughout the Old and New Testament God teaches us the importance of loving one another.  There’s no getting away from the fact that our relationship with God and our relationships with one another are connected.  We cannot have one posture toward God and a different one toward other people
.  We are whole beings – our true character touches everything we do.

We cannot love God and hate other people (1 John 4:20) ”If we say we love God yet hate a fellow believer, we are liars. For if we do not love a brother or sister whom we have seen, we cannot love God, whom we have not seen.” (TNIV)

We cannot praise God and curse other people (James 3:9-10)

 ”With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.” (TNIV)

We cannot be humble before God and slander other people (James 4:10-11) ”Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.” (TNIV)

We cannot expect forgiveness from God and not forgive other people (Matthew 6:14-15)

”For if you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (TNIV)

And then there are Jesus word’s about the two most important commands.
Matthew 22:37-40
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

So the question is not “Am I going to be a part of a community of faith?”
It’s
“How am I going to live in this community of faith?”

Psalm 133
1 How good and pleasant it is 
   when God’s people live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, 
   running down on the beard, 
running down on Aaron’s beard, 
   down on the collar of his robe. 
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon 
   were falling on Mount Zion. 
For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.

Loving one another in community isn’t something we put up with like paying taxes. It’s hard but it should never be an inconvenient consequences of following Jesus. It’s necessary and desirable.  Take some time to visit our section on LOVE to discover how we intentionally engage in practices that help us grow in the area of Loving one another.