Love One Another

My computer Bible Search tells me that the above phrase appears 32 times through-out the New Testament, from Jesus’ verbal command (John.13:34,35), through the epistles of Paul, Peter and John. Interestingly, it is the only new commandment that Jesus gave to His follows, because it distilled the essence of all the ‘old’ commandments that had gone before.  But Jesus then went on to say three more very important things about this commandment.

He pointed to Himself (“As I have loved you...”) as an example, an inspiration, and in a sense as our ‘debt’ to love.

He reinforced the imperativeness of the command with “...so you must love...”.

The powerful impact of this type of love will be such that it will be the mark of His disciples within the world.

The Apostles then go on to teach what this type of love involves.  It will be familial and honouring (Rom.12:10), serving (Gal.5:13), humble, gentle, patient and fore-bearing (Eph.4:2), considerate and encouraging (Heb.10:24), sincere, pure and deep (1 Pet.1:22), harmonious, sympathetic, compassionate and humble (1 Pet.3:8).  Why? Because it is through our love for one another that the world can see the otherwise invisible God, and in so loving, God is living in and through us so that His love for the world is made complete (1 John 4:12).

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The more you give, the more you get, The more you laugh, the less you fret, The more you do unselfishly, The more you live abundantly. The more of everything you share, The more you'll always have to spare. The more you love, the more you'll find, That life is good and friends are kind, For only in what we give away Enriches us from day to day. (Source unknown)
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