Day 26
Bible Text: John 13:34-35
"A new command I give you: Love one another. 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.”
Jesus says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Let’s step back from that for a second, is that really a NEW commandment? Doesn’t the Torah say, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” in Leviticus 19? Jesus, in fact, said that verse was one of the two greatest commandments, when He was asked the question, in Matthew 22, “What is the greatest commandment?” He replied, “The greatest commandment is this: love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.” So, is this verse in John 13:34, really a NEW commandment?
Yes, because it goes further than what we read in the Book of Leviticus. Leviticus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus says, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Now that is supernatural love for He laid down his life for us, because He loved us to the cross. That love is absolutely amazing! Or as the song writer put it, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” It is truly a NEW commandment but let’s not stop there. In verse 35 Jesus goes on with, “By this,” He said, “everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” That is the ultimate indicator of a disciple of Jesus, that we love as Jesus loves, there is no other way.
There is no way that you and I can ever do that in our own strength. The only way we can do this is by the influence and indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, by the power of the Living God, and by lives that are transformed, because they are lived in the presence of the Living God. They are lives that are built on a relationship with Jesus and that is at the heart of what our Savior was speaking that night. It is at the heart of God and it is what God says to us, today.
We are living in a time of unbridled hatred and anger and the only way to respond to that, that will make a difference, is the way Jesus spoke. As He has loved us, so we are called to love one another. At the heart of Jesus’ teaching is this:
"Our devotion to the Living God is demonstrated in the way we love other people... including even our enemies." (Pastor Chris Dodge)
And oh how I need to hear that, oh how we need to hear that, because it is so easy to get carried away by prevailing winds of public opinion and by the foolishness and folly of a world that rejects the Living God.
You and I are called to a far higher calling and it is not possible to live that calling out in our own strength. It is only possible under the influence and authority of the Holy Spirit, in a relationship with the Heavenly Father, and through Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for laying down your life for me, for loving me all the way to the cross. Thank You for demonstrating Your amazing, divine love. I ask for a transformed life in my relationship with others. I ask to receive Your love into the core of my being through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and through my relationship with You. I ask that You transform my heart to love others as you have asked in this NEW command. Lord, help me to love others as You have loved me, as You have loved the world, so that everyone will know that I am Your disciple because of Your love in me. Amen.
By Pastor Chris Dodge
"A new command I give you: Love one another. 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.”
Jesus says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Let’s step back from that for a second, is that really a NEW commandment? Doesn’t the Torah say, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” in Leviticus 19? Jesus, in fact, said that verse was one of the two greatest commandments, when He was asked the question, in Matthew 22, “What is the greatest commandment?” He replied, “The greatest commandment is this: love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.” So, is this verse in John 13:34, really a NEW commandment?
Yes, because it goes further than what we read in the Book of Leviticus. Leviticus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus says, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Now that is supernatural love for He laid down his life for us, because He loved us to the cross. That love is absolutely amazing! Or as the song writer put it, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” It is truly a NEW commandment but let’s not stop there. In verse 35 Jesus goes on with, “By this,” He said, “everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” That is the ultimate indicator of a disciple of Jesus, that we love as Jesus loves, there is no other way.
There is no way that you and I can ever do that in our own strength. The only way we can do this is by the influence and indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, by the power of the Living God, and by lives that are transformed, because they are lived in the presence of the Living God. They are lives that are built on a relationship with Jesus and that is at the heart of what our Savior was speaking that night. It is at the heart of God and it is what God says to us, today.
We are living in a time of unbridled hatred and anger and the only way to respond to that, that will make a difference, is the way Jesus spoke. As He has loved us, so we are called to love one another. At the heart of Jesus’ teaching is this:
"Our devotion to the Living God is demonstrated in the way we love other people... including even our enemies." (Pastor Chris Dodge)
And oh how I need to hear that, oh how we need to hear that, because it is so easy to get carried away by prevailing winds of public opinion and by the foolishness and folly of a world that rejects the Living God.
You and I are called to a far higher calling and it is not possible to live that calling out in our own strength. It is only possible under the influence and authority of the Holy Spirit, in a relationship with the Heavenly Father, and through Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for laying down your life for me, for loving me all the way to the cross. Thank You for demonstrating Your amazing, divine love. I ask for a transformed life in my relationship with others. I ask to receive Your love into the core of my being through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and through my relationship with You. I ask that You transform my heart to love others as you have asked in this NEW command. Lord, help me to love others as You have loved me, as You have loved the world, so that everyone will know that I am Your disciple because of Your love in me. Amen.
By Pastor Chris Dodge
1 Comment
I love these daily prayers. It is a good way to start my day! I find it very encouraging. Thank you! God bless you.