a new commandment
usually, truthfully tuesday i reserve for abstract artistic expression.
either long-form poetry or storytelling, short non-sensical poems or the occasional rant i just need to get off my chest.
very rarely do i peel back the curtain into my bible study time.
but today, i thought i’d share that time with you.
below is something straight from my journal.
i always journal when i read the bible.
i want God to speak to me and i want to respond to what He’s saying.
so i write down my thoughts.
it helps me process.
so what i’m posting today is just my raw spiritual processing while i attempt to grow a deeper love and understanding for God’s word.
yesterday i was reading John chapters 13 and 14.
it’s “the last supper”
Jesus is speaking to His disciples before He is betrayed and crucified.
here are the scriptures that stood out to me:
John 13:
34 “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.”
35 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 14:
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
16 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,”
21 “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
23 “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
—
Jesus clearly demonstrates to us that He wants us to sacrificially love and serve one another.
He just finished washing the disciples’ feet and then says “they ought to do the same to each other”
and proceeds to give them “a new commandment”
love one another, as He has loved them.
then says, “if you love me, you will keep my commandments”
how do you know you love Jesus?
* you love His people
how?
* you love them the way Jesus would love them
how?
* sacrificially. serve. die for them.
if we love God, we will keep His commands and serve His people.
and only then will He come and dwell within you.
how do you know if you have the Spirit of God?
i think you need to ask yourself…
do i have the spirit of a servant?
do i love people?
it’s a question i’ve been asking myself everyday.
do i really love people?
do i love all people?
do i love them the way Jesus would?
Jesus provided for people’s needs.
He healed those who needed healing.
He spent time with those who were suffering.
He died for those who didn’t deserve it.
i don’t have enough faith to lay hands on the homeless man in the wheelchair and tell him to get up and walk.
i wish i did.
isn’t that what Jesus would do?
or is Jesus telling me to simply love others more than i love myself?
to put someone else first.
to sacrifice. to serve.
to die to myself so that someone else can rise.
i might not be called to heal that particular person, but i am called to love them.
i might not be called to restore someone’s finances fully, but i am called to love them.
and sometimes love causes you to do things that don’t make sense.
like wash someone’s feet.
maybe i don’t need to walk around like a “mary poppins christian” having an answer to every single problem i encounter,
but instead give love freely and sacrificially to everyone i see.
if all i have is love, then that’s more than enough.
but who is everyone?
surely Jesus doesn’t mean to love everyone…
i hate to break it to you, but Jesus does mean everyone.
and here’s the conviction for me:
i need to get better at loving those who don’t look like me.
don’t smell like me.
don’t act like me.
don’t live near where i live.
don’t speak how i speak.
i need to get better at loving those who are far removed from me.
the ones Jesus went out of His way to get into contact with.
it blows my mind to think Jesus died for people who will never choose Him.
He forgave people who don’t want to be forgiven.
He loved people who might never know true love.
and here’s our chance, to show love to those who might never ever find it.
we’ve become His hands and feet.
at least we’re supposed to.
but just remember His hands and feet were pierced.
remember that next time you feel too uncomfortable to stand in the gap for someone else.
Jesus stood in the gap and it cost Him His life.
and He’s asking us to do the same.
He even says “if you love me you will do this. “
as if to say, “you show your love for me, by loving others.”
as if to say, “you can’t love me if you don’t love others.”
serving someone, loving others…its not easy and it won’t look pretty.
it’s not IG worthy and it doesn’t need praise.
and it will quite frankly, cost you everything.
but it’s your reasonable response.
if you keep the command,
to love one another, the way Jesus loves us,
He will make His home within us.
He will send the Helper.
He will dwell within us.
we will be One with Christ, forever.
-gb
