It has been stated that the Bible is a love letter from God to His people. I believe that is an accurate depiction, for the theme of the Bible is how God loved us so much that He set up the gospel plan of salvation through the gift of His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, in order to redeem a lost and dying world.
Jesus taught that it is the basis of love for God and love for each other on which the whole Law of Moses stood when He said in Matthew 22:37-40, “'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and foremost commandment. And a second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." Doing for others out of love and concern for them had been part of the message Jesus delivered in the Sermon on the Mount when He said in Matthew 7:12, "Whatever you want others to do for you, do so for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."
To make sure His disciples got the message, Jesus let them know that loving each other was a commandment, not because of compulsion, but because it would identify His followers as being His disciples when He said in John 13:34-35, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
Jesus is so much about love that He wants His followers to extend love to their enemies because God the Father does the same: "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward in Heaven will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men." (Luke 6:35)
Jesus taught that our love will be manifested in our service to others, and He used Himself as the greatest example of service there is in Mark 10:43-45 and John 13:14-15: "Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you."
In the great love chapter of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, Paul states that nothing we do has any worth if it is not motivated out of love. He sums up this chapter by saying, “So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
Let us all truly learn to love one another so that they will see the Lord living in us!
Jesus taught that it is the basis of love for God and love for each other on which the whole Law of Moses stood when He said in Matthew 22:37-40, “'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and foremost commandment. And a second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." Doing for others out of love and concern for them had been part of the message Jesus delivered in the Sermon on the Mount when He said in Matthew 7:12, "Whatever you want others to do for you, do so for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."
To make sure His disciples got the message, Jesus let them know that loving each other was a commandment, not because of compulsion, but because it would identify His followers as being His disciples when He said in John 13:34-35, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
Jesus is so much about love that He wants His followers to extend love to their enemies because God the Father does the same: "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward in Heaven will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men." (Luke 6:35)
Jesus taught that our love will be manifested in our service to others, and He used Himself as the greatest example of service there is in Mark 10:43-45 and John 13:14-15: "Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you."
In the great love chapter of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, Paul states that nothing we do has any worth if it is not motivated out of love. He sums up this chapter by saying, “So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
Let us all truly learn to love one another so that they will see the Lord living in us!
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