Friday, January 13, 2012

Walk In Love

"Walking", Bing


“And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command

but one we have had from the beginning.

I ask that we love one another.

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands.

As you heard from the beginning, his command is that we walk in love.”

2 John 5-6 (NIV)



John returns to the command given by the Lord Himself. We are to love one another. He explains when we are to accomplish this we obey God and His commands.

As we go through 2012, we need to remember that we are commanded to love one another as God loves us. What does this mean to us? God loves us as we are, He loves us not because we will do great things but because of we belong to Him.

I saw her when she was in the hospital. She was a relative but we had different lives. She told me she didn’t approve of the way either of her children lived their lives but they were her kids. As she said it I felt scolded but later I realized she wasn’t defending them but loved them because they were hers. She made no pretense about trying to justify the behavior of her children, she loved them anyway. That day, I saw how unconditional love worked.

Recently, I saw unconditional love displayed by an older couple. They had had been victimized by a younger member of their family. My friend spoke of their concern about this young relative being placed with hardened criminals while being retained by the authorities. I took the time to tell my friend that she had reminded me what unconditional love looks like.

8 comments:

  1. It helps so much when we have others model His love for us. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Jeanette;
    Thank you for your thought. In the past two days,I had two instances of sharing God's love with a friend who directs the nonprofit ministry in which I work.
    We don't always realize at the time that we are doing that when we take time to inquire about a person's health by just making a phone call or sending a card.

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  3. He loves us just as we are and just where we are in this journey through life. Thanks for reminding us to show unconditional love to others.

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  4. Jean:
    Thank you for your thought. We have times when we have to find ways to remember the God loves us because we belong to Him.

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  5. It is an everyday walk, that's for sure. Trusting to walk more in love each day this year.
    Blessings,
    Karen

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  6. I'm thankful for God's model of unconditional love in sending Jesus Christ. It's beautiful to witness His character being exhibited in the people around us.

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  7. Karen:
    Thank you for your comment. Yes, I find my walk to be a daily walk. I once heard a preacher say "God does things for us daily and our witness should be what He's done for us today." I translate that to mean "What's he done for us recently?"

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  8. Susan:
    Thank you for your thoughtful comment. In Sunday worship, I write down the names of those who have praise for God. I sometime write down what the praise is. I love that part of the service.

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I would be honored to hear what you think about this.

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