Friday, April 20, 2012

Love of Christ: What it truly means

I have to ask this question, because I am beginning to worry that the Church has forgotten: What does it mean to you when you read that Christ said to His disciples, just before His Crucifixion, "Love one another as I have loved you." I ask because I am having trouble seeing the love of Jesus shown as an example to the lost and dying. I ask because we have people fighting over doctrines that mean little to nothing when put beside a question that Jesus asked, "When I return, will I find faith?" Faith is not whether you believe a passage or verse means this or means that, Faith is in the One Who wrote the scripture. When Jesus spoke the words concerning love to His disciples, He meant them as a commandment. In fact, in Matthew 22, in a conversation with the Pharisees, Jesus explained that the two greatest commandments are loving God first, the most important, and then loving your neighbor like you love yourself. How many of you would run around arguing with yourself about what you believe? How many of you would talk about yourself to other people? How many of you would just be plain ugly to yourself? None of you would, or at least I hope you wouldn't. Jesus told us to love one another, both as He loved us and as we love ourselves. When you realize that His love for us included dying on the Cross, so that our sins could be forgiven, you realize that there is no room for the kind of pettiness and argumentative attitudes that are in the church today. We have to get back to the basics of what Jesus taught and leave the worldliness behind. Again I say to you, "Love one another as I (Jesus) have loved you." John 13:34

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