Love One Another
John 13:34,35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (ESV)
Loving people you like, that’s pretty easy – even if there are a few bumps and wrinkles along the way. Loving people you don’t like, on the other hand … oh, man, really? Do I have to? You know how it goes.
At least thirteen times in the New Testament we’re told to love one another with an unconditional, unfailing love. Here it is from Jesus:
John 13:34,35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (ESV)
Sure, how we treat one another is spoken about in the Old Testament but it takes on a sharp new focus through Jesus. So much so that He calls it “a new commandment”. So much so that loving God with all that you are and loving your neighbour as yourself, according to Jesus, sums up the entire Jewish law and the writings of the Prophets.
In fact, this loving one another as Jesus has loved us in dying for our sin is, according to Him, the mark of a true Christian.
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
This isn’t a mere theory lesson – it’s about how we live our lives; how you and I love those around us. It’s easy to get lazy even in loving the people we like, let alone doing the hard yards to love those whom we don’t like, those who treat us badly, those we detest.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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