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." [John 13:34-35 ESV]
As believers and followers of Christ we should be known for our love of one another. Our nation is so full of anger, hatred, and accusation. King Solomon reflected on our human nature and heart in the book of Ecclesiastes by saying, “I have thought deeply about all that goes on here under the sun, where people have the power to hurt each other.” [Ecc 8:9 NLT] We have such a power to hurt and a heart that is deceitful without the Lord. Oh, how I wish this child rhyme was true: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” But oh, how they hurt. Oh, how they can destroy a person.
James describes our tongues like fire. “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.” [Jas 3:5-6 ESV] But for those of us who have the Lord, we should no longer be known for the hurt we incur but for the love we have for each other.
Love, though, should first be defined as a love God has defined. It is the love of the Bible; it is not the love defined in the world. It is not the same as tolerance. It is not doing something to make another person happy. It is the love of 1 Corinthians 13. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” [1Co 13:4-7 ESV] We must remember that our God doesn’t just love, He IS Love. “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” [1Jo 4:8 ESV] He is also just, and the two can never contradict.
Galatians 5:14-15 tells us: “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.” The whole law is fulfilled in one word. What is that word? Love. Jewish tradition states that there are 613 commandments in the Law of Moses a man must follow and obey for a man to be found righteous. Isn’t it amazing that all are simply fulfilled if we love God and others? If only we would take the time to seek God in the words we should speak and the help we should and shouldn’t give.
As followers of Christ we are to be known by our love and we must be careful not to bite and devour each other, for in doing so we may consume one another. No, we should not consume each other but build each other up.
Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. [Rom 15:2 ESV]
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. [1Th 5:11 ESV]
Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. [Pro 27:17 ESV]
As political debates ramp up on our Facebook feeds and in our families, lets remember to build each other up in love. Encourage each other in the truth of God’s Word.
Reflection Questions:
- How do you think our world would define love? (What does it look like to them?)
- How is this similar or different to love defined in the Bible?
Reflection Song:
