Love…

Love…

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)

Happy New Year!

As we embark on another circuit around the sun today, I thought it best to remind us of the most important command that we have received from the Lord Jesus – to love one another as He loved us! Love is how others will know that we are His disciples … His followers. It is the message that we have heard from the beginning. (1 John 3:11) Love is what should distinguish a Christian first and foremost!

Peter attested:

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ~ 1 Peter 1:22-23

Paul affirmed:

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. ~ Romans 12:9-10

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ~ Ephesians 4:2-3

Oh, how masterful and powerful John wrote and proclaimed the necessity of love as evidence of our fellowship with the Father and the Son:

1 John 4:7-12 (NIV)

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.

I pray that we will begin this New Year with a renewed awareness of the excellence of love! I pray that we would see what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! As Paul instructed: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) Let us follow the Law of Love!

Have a Blessed Day!