Love 3!

Love 3!

John 15:12 AMPC

[12] This is My commandment: that you love one another [just] as I have loved you.

Again, I note that Jesus was alone with His disciples, as He took time to lay out the principles, practices and standards of His kingdom. These teachings were the last set of instructions He gave, just before He went to the cross. It has to be noted that there is always a message for the crowd, and a separate message for the disciple. The standard for the crowd is different from the standard for the disciple. There are some things that the crowd can get away with, but the disciple cannot. This is where it becomes critical for me to define who I am: one of the crowd, or a disciple? My response defines the rest of this devotion. 

The disciple has a master; he has an example to follow. He has been given a sample to work with, a template on which to pattern his own life after. He has not been left on his own, and he has not been told to just do anything. We have someone whose personal life presents us with the confidence we need to know that we can make a success of our own walk of faith, just as He did. The crowd does not have such limits as anything and everything is permissible. It is hard to define standards when there are no examples to look up to. Again, which one am I? My answer can be anything, but when the test comes, would I be able to stand? 

One of the standards the disciple is expected to uphold is that of love. The reason why it is a standard is the nature of the God who commands the standard. He has shown what the standard looks, feels and lives like. As we have always said, God will not demand from me that which He has not first supplied sufficient grace for. If He says I should do it, it is because He knows I am His, and He has already laid down the perfect example of what He desires from me. As the verse above makes clear, a commandment does not give you wiggle room; you are either disobedient or compliant. There is no middle ground or room for complacency. 

Love is a command. Love is an example. Love is Godly, and is possible. That is what Jesus has shown us. A command means that it is binding on all who are under the authority of the One who gave it. Jesus has also shown us how it is done: He gave up His life so that we  could have life. I may not literally give up my life, but am I willing to lay down and allow other people 'walk over' me? Am I fixated on proving I am right, at the expense of my relationships with people? Do I insist on what I want, to the detriment of the welfare of other people? Remember: love is who God is and does. All who are His are empowered to be and do like God. Am I one? God's time of favour is here.