HOST: Ron House
SPONSOR: Start2Finish
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
Within these endearing words of Jesus toward His apostles, there is a great principle for each of us. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” With His imminent departure, Jesus was concerned that His apostles continue to love and care for one another in His absence. His desire was not that they simply love one another, but that they love one another in the same way that He had loved them—in a selfless, sacrificial way that always looked out for each other’s best interest. What Jesus desired for His apostles, He desires and commands of all of His disciples in any age. His love for us is great and unconditional, and His command to us is that we replicate that love in our relationships with one another. He wants us to care for one another in a way that puts other’s needs and concerns before our own, to sacrifice our own interests for the best interests of our brothers and sisters. May God help us to love others as He loves us!
Why is it important to God that we love one another?
Don’t forget to pray and have a great day!
