Love One Another

Jesus' Statue at our church. 

Scripture Reading: John 13: 31-36

Focus Verse: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34 (NIV)

               After the betrayer left, Jesus tells the remaining 11 to “love one another.” He continues by telling them to: “Love one another as I have loved you.”   The teacher loved these men in the following ways: ¹

1. Selflessly-He never thought of himself. Do       we always think of the other people involved in circumstances in which we find ourselves? As I          write this, I think of a friend who very recently went to be with Jesus. This woman exemplified           what it meant to be a follower of Jesus.

2. Sacrificially-He did not set limits to how much he would give or where it would go.

     Jesus gave His life for our sins. He became sin for each of us. This is a sobering thought to me as      I read my Lenten devotionals. I realized recently that I hurt someone with a reply I made to her.           All I have been able to do is pray and ask God to forgive me.

3. Understandingly-He knew the disciples through and through.

    We know God knows us—every part of us. David wrote in Psalm 139 that God knew us before He      formed us. We have to keep this thought in our hearts, especially when we feel we have lost touch      with Him.

4. Forgivingly- He held nothing against them.

    Jesus forgave completely. He forgave the disciples for abandoning him in his last hours. In our           21^st   Century world, we see a lot of dysfunction and estrangement in families. Some of these              issues have gone on for many years. Might we have seen harmony, had we learned to forgive one        another? 

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1. Daily Study Bible, The Gospel of John-Vol.2, William Barclay pp. 149-150. Westminster Press, Philadelphia