A Love that Stretches and Nourishes

When enduring suffering and difficulty, we tend to have more difficulty loving one another. Therefore, when Peter speaks to churches that are enduring persecution -- he reminds them to love one another, fervently. The word that is translated as "fervent" in our English Bibles comes from the Greek word that means "stretch." So, Peter exhorts them to stretch themselves to love each other, but also gives them a source of nourishment for all this extra effort -- the word of God that nourishes.