Friday, February 10, 2017

Love One Another

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February- The Love of God, the Love of Christ, Christian Love



“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35 (NIV)


            The scene is the upper room; the event, the Passover meal. Jesus gives a new command to his disciples. He tells them (and us) to love one another as He has loved.

            John took this new command to heart. He wrote about our need to love others in his epistles. (1 John 3:23-24, 1 John 2:6, 2 John 6)

            Our Lord tells us to love as He has loved. How did Jesus love his disciples while He was on earth? I don’t usually copy all the information I find in doing my research. However, these thoughts were quite enlightening:

*“Jesus loved His disciples selflessly.
             His one desire was to give himself and all he had for those he loved.

            *Jesus loved his disciples sacrificially.
             There was no limit to what his love would give or to where it would go.

            *Jesus loved his disciples understandingly.
            He knew his disciples through and through. We never really know people until we have lived               with them. When we meet people occasionally, we see them at their best.
            When we live with them we find out their moods, irritabilities, and weaknesses. Jesus lived                  with his disciples day in and day out for many months and knew all there was to be known                  about them—and he still loved them. Real love is open-eyed. It loves not what it imagines a                 man to be but what he is.

            *Jesus loved his disciples forgivingly.
Their leader was to deny him. They all, save one, were all to forsake him in his hour of need.                They never, in the days of his flesh, understood him. They were blind and insensitive, slow to               learn, and lacking understanding. In the end, they were craven cowards. But Jesus held                         nothing against them; there was no failure he could not forgive.”(1)

            My conclusion on Jesus’s love is that we may have a long way to go to demonstrate it to those around us. What are your thoughts on this topic?


1.         Barclay, William, Daily Study Guide-Gospel of John, Vol. 2, The Westminster Press©1975
Pp. 149-150


Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Love God Completely

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February- The Love of God, the Love of Christ, Christian Love 
  

“Jesus replied; ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. Matt 22:37-40 (NIV)

            The Sadducees had asked Jesus about marriage in heaven. In the Mosaic Law, if a married man died, his brother had to marry the widow in order to have children for the first husband. In their example, this widow had lost seven husbands, all brothers. Their (trick) question was; “At the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven since all of them were married to her?”(Matthew 22:24-28)
           
            Jesus’s response told them their thinking was in error. He told them they did not know the scriptures. “At the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God says to you, Í am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”(Vs. 30-31) 

            The Pharisees heard of how Jesus ‘silenced’ the Sadducees. They got their heads together and came up with a question designed to trick Him. The question? “What is the greatest commandment in the Law?”(Verses 35-36)

            Jesus responds to this question by quoting Old Testament scripture passages. Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.

            As I re-read this passage, I noticed something that piques my interest. The Sadducees said there was no resurrection and yet they asked a question about how something was going to be ‘at the resurrection.’ The Sadducees believed that only the Pentateuch, the books from Genesis to Deuteronomy, were God’s divine Word. These five books does not directly teach on it.(1)

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1.      Life Application Bible Tyndale House/ Zondervan Publishing Wheaton, Illinois/ Grand Rapids Michigan. © 1991 page1699

Monday, February 6, 2017

Love Equals Words and Deeds

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February-Love of God, God’s love, Christian love


“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”1 John 3:16, 18 (NIV)

“This is how we know what love is:”

            John, a cousin of Jesus, experienced Jesus’ fellowship and love as both a child and as one of His twelve disciples. John knew what he spoke of.

“Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
            When we speak of military men who didn’t get to return home to their families, we say they gave all. Jesus Christ did more than that, He gave His life for our sins. Because of this, we will be able to join Him in heaven when we can no longer live with our families here on earth.

“And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”
            How can we do this? Sometimes we need to take the time to listen to them when they have concerns. Other times, we might visit them when they are in the hospitals or nursing homes. A group of people from our church periodically help out another church by cooking a Sunday meal for the community. An investment in time will help someone who is having concerns about issues in his or her life.

“let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

            Have you ever heard someone talk and realize that what that person said was just words? He or she did not mean any of what came out.

            John tells us here our words and ideas should include action. As followers of Christ, we should mean what we say.


            We all should monitor our words and match them with practical actions to convey Jesus’ love to those around us.

God Alone

  Jesus and the children at our church's prayer walk.          I will both lie down in peace and sleep;  For You alone, O LORD make ...