Songfacts®:

• "Jesus Is Love" is a pure gospel song by the Commodores, a group known for secular - and sometimes risqué - hits like "Brick House" and "Slippery When Wet." It was written and sung by Lionel Richie, who at one point considered becoming a priest. The song is an expression of his religious conviction. The song was often performed in churches.
• Despite having very little hit potential, "Jesus Is Love" was released as a single and reached #34 of the R&B chart. The single was cut down to 4:26 from the album version, which runs 6:04.
• James Anthony Carmichael, a Motown mainstay, produced and arranged this track along with the group. He brought in a gospel choir to perform on it.
• This is the last song on Heroes, the eighth Commodores album. It was near the end of Lionel Richie's tenure with the group: he went solo two years later.
• This is one of Lionel Richie's favorites. "It will always be that song in case you just don't know which way you're going," he told Entertainment Weekly in 2021. "The first verse of "Jesus Is Love" would be the prayer I would wish for everybody on the planet, because that's where we are."
  
  The first verse is:
  
  Father
  Help your children
  And don't let them fall
  By the side of the road