JESUS…
In reply to the question the lawyer asked Him about the greatest commandment… Matthew 22:37 Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment. “And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
One of my favorite things to do is create cards and scrapbook pages…I haven’t been able to do a lot of this for quite some time because my crafting supplies are in storage. Recently, I’ve acquired a few items to at least begin making cards again and I really enjoy sending them to my family and friends when the mood strikes. This is one I made to send the kiddos for Valentine’s Day…but I thought it tied in well to my post today.
Jesus doesn’t just ask us to be loving towards one another…He actually commands us to love. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. John 15:12 and this…”A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34. So what does that mean?
God’s kind of love is called Agape love. Agape (Ancient Greek ἀγάπη, agápē) is a Greco-Christian term referring to love, “the highest form of love, charity” and “the love of God for man and of man for God”. It is not an emotional love but a response to someone in need. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
He loved…so He gave.
That is how we are supposed to love as well. We are to be givers, like our Father in heaven, we are to give to others. We are blessed to be a blessing.
When we give without expecting anything in return
we are bearing the fruit of “LOVE”.
John 3:17 goes on to show us that: God did not send His son to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Notice the key word there? It’s “MIGHT”…not would. The offer is there for you to accept or decline. It is God’s sincere desire that people would turn to Jesus and His finished work on the cross. Wow! I could go on and on …this is such a revelation to me. I hope you’re getting something from it as well.
Since Jesus laid down His life for us, we are called to do as He did…we don’t have to die on a cross, we just have to “die” to ourselves. Put others needs ahead of our own, and as you do, you are bearing the good fruit of LOVE. There are so many ways to do this each and every day. Little acts of kindness…letting someone go ahead of you in a store checkout lane, buying someone’s coffee behind you in the Starbucks Drive-Thru, making dinner or washing the dishes when it’s not your job (or your turn)…so many situations-so many opportunities.
These are the prayers God loves to answer…Lord, show me today how to love as You love. Open my eyes to see someone who needs me to be a blessing to them. Give me courage to step out of the boat even when the waters are rough. Let me be Christ to someone who needs to know of His love.
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