As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”
Wow!
"Love one another as I have loved you."
Lord Jesus,
that's setting the bar high!
You loved people I can't imagine.
the outcast,
the drunk,
the foreigner,
the zealot,
the conservative,
the liberal,
the rebel,
the demon possessed,
the convicted criminal,
the betrayer,
the forsaker,
the friend,
the sister,
the mother,
the brother,
the religious leaders,
the minority,
the political leader,
the enemy,
the executioner,
the sick,
the dying,
the deceased,
the unclean,
the baptizer,
the sinner,
me.
That's a long list.
That's a lot of love.
That's a lot of forgiving.
That's a lot of energy.
And you loved by
befriending,
challenging,
forgiving,
calling to account,
inviting,
healing,
listening,
giving,
redeeming,
praying for,
praying with,
teaching,
feeding,
dying,
rising,
commissioning,
sending,
encouraging,
calling,
saving!
I can't possibly
do all that!
"Love one another,"
you say
"as I have loved you."
I want to say,
"I'll try."
but I just watched Star Wars
and I'm mindful of what Yoda says,
"Do or do not;
there is no try."
While I don't think
Yoda is a Christian Theologian,
I do think you might
agree with that advice.
So today,
Lord,
I choose to love
in easy and hard ways;
I choose to love
those who are easy to love
and those whom I struggle to love.
I love because you love!
Amen.
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