September 2, 2011
Emotions in Christ
Part Two
The Love of Christ
John 15:12
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We saw yesterday that God seeks to control our feelings, and that our feelings relate directly to our spiritual activities. If we keep the commandments of Christ, then we abide in His love. God commands us to be controlled by His love. Jesus emphasized time and time again that we should love one another. While the New Testament concept of love expands beyond feelings, it certainly includes an emotional sense within our hearts. We do not love God in a dry and dusty emotional landscape where nothing phases us. In fact, His love fills our hearts and flows like a fountain throughout our inner selves. The Holy Spirit promotes this love and God’s love directly influences how we feel. Do not miss the point, however. Jesus commands this love, and demands this love from us. Without His love, we can do nothing.
This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
John 15:12
The Love Commandment. Jesus has preached love and demonstrated love to His disciples for their entire time with Him on earth. According to Jesus, the greatest and foremost commandment of the Law is “You shall love your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). Jesus then continued: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). Love has always dominated the relationship we have with God. God commands love, and lavishes His love upon us. God empowers us to love Him and to love one another. As Christians, we should be known for loving people the way that God loves them.
Love One Another. We need to keep clearly in mind that Jesus did not tell them in John 15:12 to love God, but to love another. These disciples had issues related to loving one another, and had disputes about who was the greatest among them (Luke 9:46; Luke 22:23-27). They had a problem with sin controlling them. They needed to hear Jesus command them to love one another. You may think of your relationship with God as separate from your relationship with other people. For Jesus, He drew no such distinctions when it came to love. Our love for God directly controls our love for other people. They are linked together by God’s plan and purpose. We would never have known the depths of God’s love, except that He gave His only Son to die for us. Our lives today need to focus upon sharing God’s love with the people around us today. Can you imagine a personal, daily ministry of loving people with God’s love today? Perhaps you will accomplish nothing more today than helping one person on earth to know that God loves them, no matter what. Nice day it will be.
As I Loved You. In John 15:12, we see that Jesus made Himself the perfect example of love for the disciples. He told them to consider the way He loved them, and then go love other people. When we think about the way that Jesus loves us every day, it provides the perfect example of how we should the love the people around us. Jesus illustrated His point in John 15:13, page 1686 by saying that no one has greater love than laying down his life for his friends. When you consider this statement, Jesus was plainly telling us He had friends. Do you have friends? I know people who think they have no friends. They would like some true friends, but they do not think they have any. Jesus made friends with His disciples by loving them. You love them, no matter how they treat you. You lay down your life for them, no matter what they do for you or to you. Jesus loved the disciples with sacrificial love, which means that you sacrifice yourself and your well-being to love them. Are you in the process of laying down your life for your friends today?
So we learn more about the love of Jesus today.
● Jesus commanded us to love today.
● Jesus told us to have friends and to love them today.
● Jesus commanded us to love our friends like He loves us today.
Application for Today
As I live today, I want to obey Jesus by loving God, so that I can share His love with my friends today. I want to expand and deepen my friendships with people today, by loving them as Jesus loves me today. Will you love your friends with the love of Jesus Christ today?
