20 Apr God and Jesus Help Us to Love One Another
My last two articles discussed the wonderful love God and Jesus have for us. In this article, let’s consider how their love inspires and enables us to love one another.
In the passage below, Jesus teaches us to love one another:
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you”. (John 15:9-15)
Let’s take a closer look at this passage:
verse 9: Jesus loves us because God loved him, and he wants us to remain in his love.
verse 11: Remaining in Jesus’ love brings us complete joy!
verse 12: We are to love others because we are so loved by Jesus. We don’t love each other out of guilt or pressure; the love we feel from Jesus and by God overflows into love for other people.
verses 14-15: Jesus says that we are his friends, not merely his servants. His loving friendship for us motivates and inspires us to love one another!
In two other passages from the book of John, Jesus teaches us that our love for one another serves a powerful purpose—it shows the world that we are his disciples:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples,
if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:20-23)
We can show love to other disciples of Jesus through our words, our actions, and our prayers. Spending time together is a great way to connect and encourage one another. We can make occasional visits or phone calls, send warm and inspiring emails and texts, and write cards. We can humbly share the ways God has taught and helped us, and we can learn from others how God has blessed them!
God also wants us to show his love to others who do not know him yet. Our love for them and our testimony about God’s love may help them to realize that God loves them too, and may inspire them to seek God.
Brothers and sisters, let the love of God and Jesus bear fruit in our relationships, teaching us to love one another!
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