Love One Another
A reading for Monday, January 5, 2015: John 15:1-16.
Jesus said, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."
Love is not an emotion. Love is an action. It's not insignificant that Jesus offers this commandment in the midst of a discussion about vines and branches and producing fruit.
Love is producing fruit for the benefit of another person. It is putting oneself aside long enough to seek the good that another person might require or even desire. It's sacrifice and doing one's duty even when it costs us something or is an inconvenience.
We live in a world in which love too has been commodified, used to market and sell wares. Love has been distilled down to words of platitudes or sappy teary eyed movies. People that have barely met one another on reality television use love as a punch line or a nice, neat ending to their episode.
Truth is, it's not love until one person has done something selfless and significant for another. Love takes time and requires giving of self. As Christians we share the best example of love the world has ever known. Jesus said, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."
...and that's exactly what Jesus did for you and for me.
Jesus said, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."
Love is not an emotion. Love is an action. It's not insignificant that Jesus offers this commandment in the midst of a discussion about vines and branches and producing fruit.
Love is producing fruit for the benefit of another person. It is putting oneself aside long enough to seek the good that another person might require or even desire. It's sacrifice and doing one's duty even when it costs us something or is an inconvenience.
We live in a world in which love too has been commodified, used to market and sell wares. Love has been distilled down to words of platitudes or sappy teary eyed movies. People that have barely met one another on reality television use love as a punch line or a nice, neat ending to their episode.
Truth is, it's not love until one person has done something selfless and significant for another. Love takes time and requires giving of self. As Christians we share the best example of love the world has ever known. Jesus said, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."
...and that's exactly what Jesus did for you and for me.
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