Commanded to Love

“These things I command you, that you love one another.”  (John 15:17)

 

Many believe love to be a voluntary emotion, and that we should love according to what we feel in our hearts. If so, does God honestly expect us to love unlovable people, or those who hurt us and mean us harm? Does God expect us to love those we don't like, who are nothing like us, or whose behavior we disdain? These are difficult questions to wrestle with as we learn to love as Christ commands, and this is where we must surrender our understanding and receive the love poured in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, it is impossible to get beyond ourselves and our fears into the realm of holy love.

 

It may seem odd that Jesus commands us to love, but it makes a remarkable difference to see love as a commandment and not an emotion. Jesus can command and empower us to love, because He has taken it out of the natural realm and placed it in the framework of the spirit. He did that when He bore all our sins and sicknesses, and when He gave His life for ours on the Cross of Calvary — all out of love. God's love is spiritual, based on the work and person of Jesus Christ who is God, and who is love. 

 

So, let this be said of us; that we love like Jesus loves, that we are filled with love by the Spirit, and we are filled with love for one another. That is God’s command. 

 

Let's Pray - Father, it is good and right to learn to define love as You do. Teach me to appreciate the opportunity to love as You command. May my words and deeds be salt and light in the earth, and may You be glorified in Your servant. Amen.