In Matthew 7:21–23, Jesus warns his followers against a facile faith that trusts in saying the right words and doing notable deeds in his name. Not everyone who calls him Lord will enter his kingdom, but only those who do his Father’s will. Then he declares that on Judgment Day, many will appear before him, calling him Lord and pointing to the things they have done as evidence of having followed his commands. Is it not God’s will to prophesy? To drive out demons? To perform miracles? Yet Jesus tells them he never knew them.

The Father’s will is first to make him the pre-eminent love of our lives and then, having been made to overflow with love by his Spirit, to show that same love to others. Any deeds not motivated by love are useless and even deceptive because they can fool us into thinking we belong to God when we do not. Paul makes this same point in I Corinthians 13.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

I Corinthians 13:1–3 NIV

Without love, everything we do, no matter how good we may think it, is at best useless and at worst destructive, for it can even divide us from Christ. The greatest mistake the Jews made in their long struggle to understand their place as God’s people was in thinking his law was meant to shape their behavior. It was not. It was meant to shape their hearts. We make the same mistake today whenever we prioritize obedience to rules over genuine care for one another.

Love as the New Testament uses the word is not affection. It is not a good feeling of attraction or mutual interest. It is care, and it primarily shows itself in acts taken on behalf of another who cannot act in his or her own behalf.