Command to Love
Good Morning,
Have you ever wondered about all those verses telling us to love one another? Really, did you not wonder why the Lord talked so often about us loving each other?
Colossians 3:12 “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;”
vs. 13 “Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.”
Those are serious and pointed commands.
Jesus made some very clear statements about loving each other; I do not mean regarding loving the unsaved guy who hates us, I mean loving each other as Christians.
John 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
vs. 35 “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
This was among the disciples!
John 15:12 “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”
vs. 17 “These things I command you, that ye love one another.”
I could immediately write twenty verses like these without any searching. Everywhere, we find the Lord urging us to love each other: I mean the twelve Apostles, Christian couples, friends who go to church together, Christians who serve in ministries together – God says to love one another!
Now, why would He say that so often? Because we are sinners, and we offend each other, hurt each other, do wrong, misunderstand the actions of others, fail to live up to the expectations of others, and many other reasons.
Do you understand that the Apostles spent three years working side-by-side and sacrificing their personal lives for the Saviour? Then one of their own betrayed Christ. It might have been easy to get bitter, hateful, or proud. Over and over, Jesus urged them to love, to forgive, and to be merciful.
Not long after the Lord ascended to Heaven, the believers fought over who was getting more financial support (Acts 6:1). Before long, moral trouble showed up in the church (1 Corinthians 5:1). Our Lord did not write repeatedly to love one another because we are so good, but because humanity is so bad.
Paul publicly rebuked Peter (Galatians 2) and division showed up in the church (Romans 16:17, 1 Corinthians 1:10 & 3:3). These situations can cause believers to develop bitterness and anger towards one another, but the body is of Christ, and it is precious in His sight, so He asks us to love one another.
As I heard a preacher say in a recent sermon, "Do not be surprised when a Christian does wrong; be surprised when they do right."
Our Lord commands us to LOVE ONE ANOTHER and to NOT FORGET IT. He repeats this over and over to try to imprint this in our minds: LOVE, FORGIVE, BE MERCIFUL.
Pastor