John 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you; That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also one another.”
This is one of those verses with which I am very familiar. So familiar in fact, that I thought it was pretty self-explanatory and wouldn’t require much depth of study. (I can almost hear God chuckling at my naivety!)
First of all, I realized that this is a commandment of Jesus. It is not a suggestion; it is a mandate from the Son of God, and He is giving it to me. Secondly, there is the commandment itself. I am to love others, but not just to simply love them. I am to love them as Jesus loved me. How did He love me? The typical response is that Jesus loved me enough to die for me on the cross, which is true, but I needed to take a moment to really think about what that meant. When I really thought about the scope of His love for me, I was overwhelmed by the enormity of it.
Philippians 2:5-6 states “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
Because Jesus loved us all, He voluntarily left His position as God. He left the splendor of heaven (which I really cannot comprehend), but I know it is pure, holy, without pain or suffering, glorious… all those wonderful things that Scripture talks about, but there is no real way for me to grasp what He left… and He did it out of love. He separated Himself physically from God the Father. It had never been done before in all eternity until now… and Jesus did it out of love. He endured hunger, thirst, loneliness, fatigue, homelessness, heartache, despair, rejection, betrayal, mockery, physical pain and suffering from friends as well as enemies, and eventually the horror of a sinner’s death… and He did this out of love for us. He endured the anguish and despair of a spiritual separation from His Father (again, this never had occurred in all eternity) when He took the sins of the world upon Himself. He didn’t respond with gossip, anger, payback, revenge, or bitterness. He responded with forgiveness… because He loves us.
I also realized that in this verse I am commanded to love like Jesus loved. No matter if I feel “entitled” to “righteous” behaviors such as anger (after all, I was wronged), gossip (my feelings are justified, right?), righteous indignation (you know, I was right), righteous bitterness (the nerve of them!), etc. Hmm… I am still commanded to love like He did. The only One who was entitled to any of these “righteous” emotions would be Jesus. He is the only righteous One, and yet, how did He respond? He responded with forgiveness born out of love.
Shamefully, I was guilty of exhibiting all of the above “righteous” behaviors at one time or another due to my own pride. I had to step back and try to look at myself objectively. It was one thing for me to say, “Yes, I am a sinner. Yes, I’ve done those things.” It was another thing entirely to really take a good hard look at what I had chosen to do. I had chosen to harbor ill feelings toward others. I had chosen to be unloving in my words. I had chosen to hold on to bitterness. I had chosen to justify myself through gossiping with others.
Was there any hope for me? Yes! Step one: Pray for forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 states, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Step two: Allow God’s Holy Spirit to work in me. Philippians 1:6 states “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” (Another verse study in its own!) This tells me that God’s work in me is continuing. As I pray for the wisdom and strength to be more like my Saviour, I know I am not alone in fighting this battle of learning how to love like Jesus (and it is a battle!). Philippians 4:13 states that “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” My strength is in the Lord! Through His love and forgiveness, I can learn to love and forgive! Jesus is with me, and it is He who empowers me to change, to become more loving and forgiving.
My life is not all about me; it’s about Him. It’s about showing Jesus to others. It’s about sharing the gospel of Christ to a world that so desperately needs Jesus. It’s about reflecting the love of God to those who don’t know Him. It’s about becoming a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is MY reasonable service.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” – Romans 12:1
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How has God’s Word touched your life today?