A New Command - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him today and what came to my heart and mind in John 13:34-35,

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so
you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another."

Jesus issues a "new command" to his disciples. He tells them they must
love one another. He went on to say that as we express this love for
one another it reflects to everyone that we are his disciples. The
world needs to know that there exists a reality among mankind: some of
us belong to God and are heaven-bound and maybe those of the world
should have a concern for their own prospects.

How many times have you seen something other than love being
expressed between believers? How are we supposed to love one another?
We love our spouses and family members, but... how do we manipulate
the vagaries of our heart's emotions?

The Quest NIV Study Bible has a great observation on this, "God
measures love by obedience, not by warm feelings and emotions." We
read in 1 John 5:2, "This is how we know that we love the children of
God: by loving God and carrying out his commands." Quest goes on to
point out that love and obedience are so closely connected that John
said, "This is love for God: to keep his commands" 1 John 5:3.

Paul supports this thought in Romans 13:8-10, "Let no debt remain
outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for
whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, 'You
shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not
steal, 'You shall not covet,' and whatever other command there may be,
are summed up in this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of
the law."

Another thought is that we are helped by the Holy Spirit in this
regard, "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness..." Galatians 5:22. When we embrace
Jesus Christ in faith, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us and
begins to build those attributes within us that reflect we belong to
Jesus Christ. I note love is the first in this list.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

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