Love One Another
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jesus gave us a new commandment to love one another as He loved us. Believers are to be known by their love for other followers of Jesus. Although these followers may be from different ethnic, tribal, cultural, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds, our love for one another transcends all. Yet, we stumble and avoid the “difficult” believers, believers struggling with mental health and the shame of suicidal ideations. Jesus unites us in His love and the Holy Spirit guides us through the uncomfortable interaction with these difficult brothers and sisters.
These believers feel shamed, stigmatized, and self-conscious sharing their burdens with their fellow believers. In Acts, the early church cared for each other, bearing one another’s burden. These first believers shared fellowship in the same Jesus, the same Holy Spirit. They desired to worship, love, and live for the same God. They experienced the same struggles, the same victories, and the same joy in spreading the Gospel. We should strive for this supernatural love and fellowship, because when non-believers witness this love, they are drawn to God’s grace.
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Jesus commands us to go beyond our fellow believers and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Your neighbor may be the last person you want to love. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us to glorify God in a way that is un-natural to the world. He helps us to resist the temptation to resist loving difficult people. We need to intentionally reach out to love, to build relationships, and to share with our neighbor just as Jesus reached out to love, to build relationships, and share with us. This kind of love is supernatural and against worldly standards. Jesus showed compassion toward those undesirables in society. He stopped and looked on them with compassion, not worrying about the world’s judgment. Believers should stop and look on these marginalized with the same compassion.
Our neighbors may share their burdens, struggles, and pain with us. Importantly, we need to assist with emotional and physical needs, but spiritually we must share the Gospel of Jesus with them. We need to listen as Jesus listened to those in crisis. He stopped and listened with compassion. Many of our neighbors are hurting; financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually separated from God. They are searching, and we can be the light of Jesus and share His Gospel.