BIBLE VERSE:

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. John 15:12 (KJV).

REFLECT:
What is Love? Is it a feeling, emotion, temperament, or idea? We may want to agree that the definition of love going by the logic of diction may mean any of the words used in our wonder questions in the opening text above, and indeed love can be taken as all the definitions just mentioned.

However, if we closely examine all the definitions of love already mentioned, we would wonder if this is all to the whole concept of love, and if this is all we understand love to be, why then do we have so many love issues in our world today? In our world today we see anything but what our definition tells us. There is so much hate, antagonism, bitterness, etc. even among those who claim to be in love. More often than not there seems more of a falling out of love than truly falling in love.

So what is the problem? There must be something we are not doing right or getting, right. It is either we are confused with the entire concept of love, or we do not know what love means at all. The solution, in this case, would be to find out what love means or stands for. How best do we gain an accurate understanding of the concept of love and truly function in it correctly?

In our Bible verse for today, we will find something very unique about how it presents the concept of love. We are confronted with this whole concept in a different light. This Bible verse takes us beyond the surface-level mundane understanding of love and brings us into a whole new dimension of the whole aspect of what love is.

Going by our Bible verse, we are told that love is a commandment. Even more, so this dimension of love as a commandment is deeply rooted in the nature of GOD and thereby transcends into eternity, engaging all aspects of our will and spirit.

What then do we mean that love engages all aspects of our will and spirit? By this, it means that we are designed not just to love because it’s a feeling, emotion, idea, or temperament, but we love because it is a commandment to us and a commitment by us to the one who commands us. Moreover, our commitment is not based because we are being forced to do so, but that God our Heavenly Father who commands is committed or obligated to His commandment. He exemplified and still exemplifies Love, demonstrating His love to us in His Son Jesus who died on the cross for us even while we were yet sinners.

Therefore, by this singular act of the love God demonstrated to us on the cross in Christ Jesus, we are expected to also demonstrate this love through the act of our will and spirit, we have to love others just as God loved us in Christ Jesus.

In other words, our love is not based on our feelings alone, if it were so it would fail because feelings or emotions are directed by the dictates of the flesh, and not by the Spirit of God. The flesh as we know is always controlled or determined by circumstances and how these circumstances influence us at any given time.

As true ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, we must daily reflect on our LOVE walk to bring ourselves in line with what God has commanded so that we can bring forth the right fruits that will affect the world in the exact way God intends it.

Ebimobo W. Obasi

PLEASE PRAY ALONG:

Thank You, Lord, For Loving Me.

FATHER GOD, thank you for loving me. You showed me the dimensions of your love in the most amazing way, sending your Son Jesus to die for me on the cross. Please help me show the same love you have shown to me for others even when loving them may prove difficult. Sometimes I will encounter people who are unkind or hard to love. In those moments, help me remember your commitment to love knowing they are Your creation and You love them dearly. And because You love them, I want to love them too. Help me to be more like You. In JESUS MIGHTY NAME AMEN.