TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34
Read: John 13:34-35
Listen: John 13
TODAY’S MESSAGE
Jesus is starting something new. He is starting a community of people who experience the love of God in a way that changes their actions. He begins with a small group of followers. He sums up the ethos by which the group should operate—love. They are to be a group that receives the love of God and pours love out to others. People should experience the love of Jesus through them. In fact, Jesus goes so far as to say people will know you are in this new community if you show love.
The community Jesus starts is the church. For 2,000+ years, the church has attempted to live out the command to love. It definitely hasn’t done it perfectly and has made mistakes. But the main goal of people in the church community is to receive the love of God and express that love to others. Watch this video clip below as Pastor Aaron Buer tells us that love is the grading scale for followers of Jesus. That means loving when we don’t feel like it. It means loving those who aren’t loving to us. It means loving those we disagree with.
Love calls us to both action and inaction. Through his teachings, Jesus tells us love compels us to do things and to forgo doing things. We do things like take care of people in need and don’t do things like get revenge. We do things like care about justice but don’t do things like gossip. Love should guide all our decisions, actions and relationships.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
In your journal or on your mobile device, write an action you need to start doing and one you need to stop doing to show the love of Jesus. Think through the different relationships in your life. Especially consider those you find most challenging as you decide what actions to start and stop.
Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.
