Love Each Other

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

LOVE EACH OTHER

John 15:9-17

9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 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. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 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. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

NIV

We have moved from remaining in him to remaining in his love, although if we are in him we are in his love. But there is a condition of remaining in his love. If we obey his commands we will remain in his love. Would that mean if we fail to obey his commands he will not love us, or we are not remaining in his love? It is interesting both Greek words, agapao and agape are used interchangeably by Jesus. Loving in a moral or social sense and loving in a benevolent sense. Perhaps he was implying both or a complete full type of love, not half-hearted. This is how the Father loves him and he loves the Father and how God loves us, fully, complete, with all that he is. Remaining in the love of Jesus gives him great joy, it makes his joy complete and in doing so, it also makes our joy complete. What he is saying is we cannot find real lasting joy in the things of the world, chasing after those temporary moments or things. Our only source of pure joy is being in Jesus. This Greek word translated joy, means a cheerfulness, i.e. calm delight, when used as joy it is joyful, joyfully, joyfulness, joyous. What of this world can sustain that joy over the duration of our lives? This is being in his love, and he commands us to love each other. It is about loving in a moral social sense and in a benevolent sense. A complete type of love which Jesus demonstrates as the greatest love is to lay down our lives for our friends. Of course we know Jesus did just that, and we have not been called or are worthy to go to the cross to die for every ones sins, as Jesus was and did. But can we lay our life down in other ways for our friends? Was Jesus only talking about himself and his love for his people? He did say, or command his disciples to love each other as he loved them. Was that command just for those eleven, or was it meant for all of us. He certainly laid his life down for us, so we would have to believe he intends for us to love each other in the same manner he loves us. So then, how do we lay our lives down for each other? Could that fit with not thinking more highly of ourselves then we ought? Could that go alone with preferring others before ourselves? Could that mean the same thing as not being envious, jealous, greedy, self-serving, or getting angry, upset, having hurt feelings, all which are being more concerned with self than with others. Love has none of those negative qualities. When we follow Jesus and remain in him and his love, then we bear fruit. This fruit could mean the fruit of the Spirit, which we have seen, but it also could mean more souls in the kingdom. As we go forth loving people, as Jesus loves us, more people can be loved into the kingdom. This would have to go on the premise that Jesus meant we were not just to love each other as believers, that is, only love other believers, but that we are to love each other as human beings. That is we are to love sinners enough to put ourselves aside, and just love them, unconditional as Jesus loved us while we yet sinners. He did not say that he would lay his life down for only those who loved him, but for all mankind, so that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So then we are called to love each other.