Is the Lord calling you to grow as a disciple? Is He calling you to put love into action? God wants all of us to grow in loving one another and will help us do so when we ask in prayer.
Paul writes in Philippians 4:13I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.[1] This includes loving one another. The Lord created us humans to have a great need to be loved and cared for. Love is lifeline as we walk through life. When I feel loved I can better navigate the world I am in no matter what age I am. As I am loved it is easier to be drawn to the Lord who loves me more than I will ever know.
Jesus Wanted His Followers to Put Love into Action
Jesus told the disciples on the day before He was crucified the importance of loving one another.
John 13:34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” [2]
Loving each other wasn’t a suggestion, it was, and still is a command. The idea of loving your neighbor was ancient. Lev. 19:18 Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Yet, Jesus calls this a new command. Jesus has come to put love into action. He demonstrated this love in the washing of the disciples’ feet and would go onto suffer and die for our sins. This love was the basis of the Acts church and continues today for each of us.
How Do We Love Others?
When we love God with all our hearts, then we have the capacity to love our neighbor. The greatest need in the world today is not better health care, more social media, or politics. The greatest need we have today is for love. And the only way that love can be supplied is by a supernatural act of the Holy Spirit that transforms lives.
How do we share the love that Jesus has given us? One of the growing problems facing people during this time of pestilence is loneliness. Many people are longing not only to be loved but to have someone who will listen to them. A simple way to show love may be just to listen. Be willing to put love into action.
The love that God gives is not the ordinary love that we find in the world today. When we love our neighbors, it is not our loving with natural love, it is God loving through us. If you are willing to do this, God will supply love for others. To hear more how to put love into action, listen here: https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/encountering-jesus-with-the-disciples
[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (Php 4:13). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[2] Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Jn 13:34–35). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.