Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for

“All flesh is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,

  and the flower falls,

but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Peter’s exhortation to love one another comes in light of a previous commendation for loving Jesus despite never having physically seen him.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. (1 Peter 1:8)

Apparently the readers had an easier time loving someone they’ve never seen or met than the people they saw everyday and perhaps were persecuted with.

Lest we overestimate ourselves, consider your behavior towards the people you know well and not so well. If we are honest, we know that we are harsher, less patient, and less loving to those we know best. How do you talk to you parents compared to your grandparents - who is easier to obey? Do you still hold open the door for your spouse 10 years into marriage? How many exclamation marks and emojis do you use when texting your roommates?

The more familiar we are with someone the more familiar we are with their sin and imperfections, ultimately making them harder to love. Peter sees the dynamic between close people and conditional love and calls in Isaiah to help.

The ability to effectively love one another comes when we relinquish our preoccupation with the flowers of the world. When we are okay with missing out on our own fame, dignity and glory, finding all we need in the shelter of the good news, we are freed to love in a way that does not keep a record.

When we transpose Isaiah and Peter together we get:

The good news of the Lord remains forever.

Consider the fact that the Gospel can be good news to you everyday, and all its fruits yours for the taking. Seeds are the consequence of their source; apple seeds don’t produce oranges just as good seed does not yield bad fruit. You were made from the good stuff, live like it.