Everything God commands is important, but there is one thing that seems to be the priority – love!  Peter wrote, “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins” (1Pe 4:7).  Of all the things Jesus might have named that would have best identified His followers, He cited love.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:35).  Peter’s statement on love comes in a context where he is urging us to live godly lives motivated by the imminent end of all things when Jesus comes and judges the world (1Pe 4:7-19).

Perhaps love is mentioned as the priority because all that we do should be done in love.  Paul wrote in Galatians 5:13 that we should “serve one another in love.”  Here in this passage, the apostle Peter strikes the same cord (1Pe 4:8-11).  We are to serve one another in love by showing one another hospitality, and by using our spiritual gifts to minister to one another.  We must do this with the ability God supplies that He might be glorified in all things.