Love One Another
“Jesus loved the unlovely. He loved when He wasn’t being loved back. He loved us with a sacrificial love, so much so that He died on the cross for our sins.” – Tony Walliser
Read Luke 10:30-37, John 13:34-35
Love One Another
What the world needs now is love, sweet love, right? That’s what the popular song told us years ago. The Beatles sang, “All you need is love.” Unfortunately, instead of love, in many parts of society what’s being generated is hate, bitter hate.
Maybe it’s partly because we don’t really understand what love is – at least as God intends for it to be. “Love,” especially in the English language, means many things. We can love our dog, love our favorite sports team, love our church, love our job, love ice cream, love our wife, love our kids, love a warm sunny day. “Love” obviously doesn’t mean the same thing in each case.
In the Gospels we often see Jesus Christ giving the command: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Sounds good. But like many things in life, it’s easier said than done. When we read the Lord’s command, there are times when we’re tempted to respond, ‘Yeah, but have You met so-and-so? How can anyone love a guy like that?’
Maybe it’s someone at work who’s not only hard to love; he’s impossible even to like. Or an acquaintance or family member who ridicules your faith. How can we love a person like that? Should we?
One thing we need to realize is the kind of love Jesus talks about isn’t an emotion, a warm fuzzy response to people and things we enjoy. It’s a command that requires not a feeling, but an act of the will. It’s almost as if He’s saying, “You must love each other – whether you like it or not!” Seems like mission impossible, right?
There’s a passage toward the end of the Bible that’s helpful in understanding not only what we’re supposed to do, but also how we’re to do it. After stating, “…if anyone obeys His word, God’s love is truly made complete in him” (1 John 2:5), the apostle John writes something that seems contradictory. He declares:
“Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in Him and you because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.”
Wait a minute! The apostle says, “I am not writing you a new command but an old one.” Then in the very next verse he adds, “Yet I am writing you a new command.” Reading this, we might wonder, ‘C’mon John, is it old or is it new?’
In truth, it’s both. Thousands of years earlier, the Israelites had received the command from God, “…love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18) However, the Scriptures show they did a poor job of following that age-old mandate.
So instead, we’re given a new command: By abiding in Christ, as He talked about in John 15, we can do as He commands – but only through the power of His Spirit. As the apostle Paul wrote, “I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) To put it another way, “I can’t – but He can!”
To love one another – or loving others in the name of Jesus – may seem very difficult, if not impossible. But through Christ’s power, we can do everything He commands, including loving folks who seem unlovable. After all, He loves us, doesn’t He? Even at our most unlovable moments!