Devotional Reading: John 15: 12-27

Text: This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15: 12)

Jesus only gave one commandment in His life: that those who would take Him seriously, who would be His followers walking in His footsteps, would Love. The distinguishing mark of His followers would not be how they talked or the clothes they wore or the jobs they held. No, they would be known by how well they loved–those in their community as well as those outside their community. It would be known by how well they loved their immediate family as well as the Least, the Last and the Lost.

A Jesus’s love is not a squishy love. It is a hard love. It is a self-sacrificing love. It is not a love that does the easy thing just “to be done with it” but digs into the roots of situations and works toward systemic change that works for the betterment of all. It sees the “big picture” as well as the small individual. It sees the “other” as a person, as a child of God created in the Divine Image.

Jesus’ love is not based on emotion or feelings. It is not given just when “we feel like it”, but even when we do not feel like it. It respects the other person. It does not take advantage or look for its own gain at the expense of another. It is self-sacrificial as well self-respecting. It does not allow another to take advantage, nor does it take advantage.

As I said, it is a hard love. It is a God love.

Lord God, let me see others today as You see them. Let me look for the best in those with whom I share this life but don’t let me be blind to their darker side. Let me see clearly and at the same time love thoroughly with a Jesus-like love. Amen.