A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)
Here is an admission. I am a sentimental guy. Reading these verses, my mind was taken back to my primary school years in Camperdown, Victoria. During that time our family worshipped at the Camperdown Presbyterian Church. I remember one evening gathering with my family in the Guild room where we met informally (unheard of for Presbyterians!) and sang, not from the hymn book, but a new 'chorus' called A New Commandment. Then it felt a little naughty; now I remember it as so very quaint.
Enough reminiscing. Jesus cannot speak more plainly about the centrality of love. In preparing his disciples for his death, he charges them to love as an expression of their commitment to him and as a witness to the world. To love our brothers and sisters in Christ is both the appropriate response to the love we have experienced through Him, and still the most effective evangelistic 'tool' we have. Without love we are nothing.
Love, both in the world and in the church, has been reduced to a sentimental cliche. It is something you fall into and out of rather than a conscious and repeated choice. Love is choosing others needs before our own. Love is laying down our lives for the sake of our friends (15:13). Love is God's greatest gift to us.
So Lord, help me to love with the same passion and commitment you did. Help me to to be persevering in my patience. And help me to receive love from you, and through you from others.
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