Love One Another

John 13: 1-3, 12-17, 34-35 

What does it REALLY mean to Love one Another?

Before Jesus was betrayed and taken away he confided in is disciples; "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." I believe this means if we are true Christ followers, we must look and act differently , so that all men will know........

Is it possible to REALLY love everyone?

Jesus did, and his new command was just that. We may think, but He is God, and I am a mere human, weak and dependent on the Lord. I cannot possibly love as He loves. We may have to dig REALLY deep, but "With God, all things are possible." This message to us can be found in the books of both Luke and Matthew. 

Must I REALLY love those who make my life miserable?

There is no one who makes your life miserable but you.  Holding tightly to His word and offering your heart to Christ each and every day will offer you his peace despite worldly challenges. Each life on this earth was created by God. Loving others does not mean agreeing with their ways. It is a different kind of love. It takes an open heart and a willingness to empathize, which has nothing to do with justifying or agreeing with the actions of others.

Empathy: the ability to identify with and understand somebody else's feelings or difficulties

We cannot possibly know what makes each individual behave as he does unless we are inside of their heads and hearts and have experienced the life they have lived. We can however, trust God when he tells us to have faith and to love. This command contains no qualifiers. It simply says "To Love."

John 13;“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 13:34b-35

The Enemy is Real- So is The Champion 1 Corinthians 15:20-28

Our scripture today is full of hope. It is all about Jesus reigning and ruling. There is one line that really stood out to me and that was, “Christ will rule until he puts all his enemies under his power, and the last enemy he destroys will be death.” Did you see it, death is our enemy.

When my father was dying, my husband couldn’t take off of work and see him so we would talk on the phone a lot. I remember one day Steve told me to tell my dad that death is our enemy and that Jesus is victor over death. I felt enormous peace from his words ‘cuz I was angry that my father was dying and now I had a legitimate adversary, death.

We are not supposed to glamorize death, embrace death, or fear death because it is our enemy. Now here is the really cool part, if death is our enemy who is our allay? Jesus! The King of kings and our Lord of lords, he is our All in all both the beginning and the end.

With Jesus on our side we should live each day as the victor. Will we die? Yes, unless Jesus comes before, but death will not defeat us. I remember calling my husband at four in the morning to let him know my father had died. The first thing I said to Steve was, “I wonder what dad is doing right now, now that he is living again.”

Let’s live each day truly believing our enemy has been defeated.

Read today’s passage at Biblegateway 1 Corinthians 15:20-28