In John 13:34-35 Jesus gives a new commandment for us to love one another. He is still holding us to the commandment to love one another. When we demonstrate a lack of love … even hatred and disdain for one another; God is angry!

When God commanded Noah to build the ark, people were evil and wicked. God was sorry he created mankind. The decision to remove evil and wickedness from the world meant eliminating most of the humans from the world. Everybody was eliminated except Noah’s family. For anyone who wants to know God’s desire – it is for us to love one another. We are God’s family … his children, if you will. All God wants from us is love. It doesn’t seem like too much . . . for us to love our Creator as well as other people God has created.

I wonder if we really know what love means? Let’s take a look at the meaning of love. I Corinthians  13:4-7 in the Message Bible describes love as follows.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

I see love as an enduring decision to place another person’s well-being above your own; in spite of your natural inclinations and desires. Love does not require reciprocation, neither does it require compensation.

 The very nature of love includes being vulnerable. When we love another person and our love is not reciprocated, it may cause pain. Yet, God expects us to love anyway. Think about it, God loves us and we often cause him pain. When our lives violate his will —it breaks his heart! Yet, he loves us anyway.

When Jesus told us to love one another, he knew it would not be an easy task. He knew it would not always come naturally. He knew we would need him to love other people. Our lives have been designed to be forever connected to God. God wants to be involved in our lives on a daily basis as stated in the prayer he left for us in Matthew 6 that says,”Give us this day our daily bread”. He could have said, give us this week or give us this month or give us this year, but he chose, “Give us this day our daily bread”. Let’s pray together:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.

Amen. Matthew 6:9-13