Love One Another
Why does God call us to love one another? How does God call us to love one another? Who are we supposed to love? In what ways are we to love one another?
God calls us to love our brothers and sisters. We are called to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Love is a high call, as old as the laws of God given to Moses in the days of the Israelites’ wandering in the wilderness.
In the Book of Leviticus, the law given to Moses tells us, “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:17-18, ESV).
God calls us to the high calling of love. When the world is filled with hate, God calls us to love and to reason. When others are seeking revenge and are holding grudges, God calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells us, “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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35, ESV).
Jesus has modeled perfect sacrificial love for each of us. We are to love others as Jesus has loved us.
When we love as Jesus loves, others come to know the love of Jesus, because of our love for one another.
Because God is the Lord of our lives, and because Jesus has loved us so well, may we love our neighbors as ourselves, and may we love one another as God has loved us.
A Collect for the Fifth Sunday of Easter: “Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal glory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
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