This scripture is called the “11th Commandment.” It is the one commandment Jesus added in the New Testament. This addition lets us know how we should begin to find what is missing in our society… LOVE. How much did Jesus love us? My answer: a mega-ton, he gave his life. It doesn’t get more intense than that!
The kind of love he has is one that isn’t natural to us, because he is God and we are not. but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be striving to love like this, in fact, it’s exactly what he asked of us. and as followers we should do our best to keep this command.
This isn’t a natural process; we have to learn to become determined to love others. Love is not a word just spoken, love is a word we need to put into action. This word love comes with a guarantee, (one you won’t find on your new vacuum you’ll be getting for Christmas this year). The Bible tells us that…
I love this fact about love… it’s backed by a God Guarantee. You may be struggling today in a relationship with someone; it could be your husband, boyfriend, bff, sister, brother or even neighbor. Try pouring love onto it and see what happens.
“You mean you don’t want me to tell them how right I am and how wrong they are? You don’t want me to point out their faults and mistakes? Are you really asking me to just love and pray for them?”– I know it seems obvious to even go there, but we’ve all done those things. Myself included. So take a minute and think about times when you wanted to love someone, but it seemed to slip away and in it’s place was harshness and bitter words. Boy, that just hit me where it hurts!
So what should we do? We carve out special things to do for them, like laundry, or bake a cake, or compliment their shoes. The key here is to be INTENTIONAL. Go into a visit knowing what your going to say or how your going to react. Jesus brought Love down to us, so seek. Stretch. Get a little uncomfortable.
Love is the sweetener of life. Your bitter tea doesn’t taste sweet on it own… there is a lot of planning involved. Think about it. You have to buy sugar from the store, put it in a container, scoop it in that cup and stir a ton to get that tea sweet! And isn’t the sweet tea worth it in the end? Love is the same. We have to get it out, sprinkle it on, and stir it in.
I encourage you, spread some sweetener of life through your day.
Journal 2 Joy 