John 13:34 -- " A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."
Thank you for reading the message this week. I am doing a lot better than I was last week in regard to my health. Thank you for your prayers. I hope and pray that all of you are doing well.
We are half way through our study in the book of Mark. We will pick back up next week with Mark, but today I want to pause and share a few things that I have been reflecting on from reading John 13:34.
When Jesus was in the Upper Room with the disciples, they shared the Passover together before Jesus was crucified. In addition to this, Jesus gave instructions and teachings to those who were gathered in the Upper Room with Him.
In John 13, Jesus gave them His new commandment. In I John, the apostle John reiterates it bringing to mind to his readers that Jesus' command was to love one another. We are to love one another even as He has loved us.
I have been thinking a lot about this idea of loving one another over the course of the last few weeks. The first thing that came to my mind is that love is the most important and the central theme of the Christian faith. Sometimes I think we lose sight of that. Love is what this religion is all about.
God loved us even in spite of the fact that we rebelled against Him and decided to do what we wanted to do instead of following His way that leads to abundant life. Because of His great love for us, God made a way for us to be redeemed and forgiven while at the same time He did not violate His own demands of justice. By sending His Son the Lord Jesus to be the propitiation for our sins, God was both just and the justifier of those who call upon the name of the Lord and believe in their hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead.
Jesus came for us out of love. Love kept Jesus on the cross. Everything that Jesus did while He was ministering on this earth was done out of love. He taught us to love God and to love our neighbor. He even said that we are to love our enemies.
There can be no doubt that love is at the core of the Christian faith, and Jesus gives those of us who are His followers the command to love one another.
I have been thinking about loving one another. One of the things that came to my mind in regard to loving other Christians is helping. We show our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ when we are there and help to meet their needs in times of crisis and when they are hurting. When we can hold up and help our fellow Christians, we are showing that we have love for one another.
Another thing that I think about loving one another is we do this when we recognize that we are believers in Jesus across the world. It has distressed me to see many Christians speak in such derogatory terms about people from other countries when those same people are our brothers and sisters in Christ whom we are commanded to love. Love does not manifest itself in hateful words and actions.
Love does manifest itself when we seek the good of all those who are believers in Jesus. When we reach out with help, hope and healing to all those who call Jesus Lord.
Now, I think that Jesus with this command was not just calling on us as believers to love one another. He wanted us to love everyone because He was the man of love and the Christian faith is all about love.
We can live a life of love in this world. First off, I think we can live a life of love by sharing the message of Jesus' love and forgiveness with those who do not have a relationship with Him. Second, we show love for this world by caring about the sustenance of this world. Our actions that affect the climate and endangered species affect others in this world and can have catastrophic impacts on others. We act in love when we care about what God has made so that others can have a good life.
I also believe that we show love for this world and for one another when we do all that we can to meet people's needs. People all around this world need food, clothing, education, medical care and mental health care. As we have the ability, we can help meet these needs in love and in the name of Jesus who was and is the man of love.
Finally, I believe that we can fulfill and obey this command of Jesus by simply being kind. Kindness in our world is so lacking these days. People on all sides of an issue call people terrible things and act in very nasty ways to others. We can be kind to all. We can speak in love to all. By doing so, we can do what Jesus has called us to do. Amen.
Prayer Requests
I am feeling a lot better as I mentioned. Please keep praying that I will improve and hopefully find a better job that is not so taxing.
Keep praying for an end to the Ebola outbreak in Africa. Pray that people will get the treatments that they need to recover and to prevent the spread of this disease.
We need to keep praying for peace. Ukraine, Sudan and the Middle East need to be the focus of our prayers.
Let us also pray for those who are facing tough times economically. Inflation is high here in the US, and many are having trouble. Let us lend a hand as we are able.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for those in Djibouti and Yemen. Pray that many will come to know Jesus.
Next week, we will be back in Mark. I will post the verses on Tuesday. May God bless you all.
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