True Love
The apostle John writes,
“It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.
And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.” 2 John 1:4-6.
The apostle John throughout his gospel and his letters constantly comes back to “walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.”
He asks believers to Love one another. John states, “his (Christ’s) command is that you walk in love.”
Love is the key to being Christian. It goes back to the teachings of Jesus who when asked,
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40
Jesus who said,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,...” Matthew 5:43,44.
John in his gospel quotes Jesus as saying,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16,17.
John thought the message of love so important to the spreading of the gospel that he spoke over and over again both in his gospel and in his letters about it.
The love John spoke about is unconditional love. It is a love everyone who claims to be Christian MUST understand and put into practice.
The apostle Paul defines Christian love as,
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” Romans 5:6-11.
Think about it when we were sinners, enemies of God’s, He sent His son to die for our sins. This is unconditional love.
As Christians we must be willing to die to spread the message of Christ. Something many Christians around the world are doing.
However I look at Christians here in North America where I live and ask myself would many who claim to be Christians be willing to die for their enemy?
If you claim to be a Christian living in the United States or Canada would you be willing to die for an abortionist? Would you be willing to die for someone of a different lifestyle or faith?
Here is a question that was once posed to me. If you as a Christian were in a situation where you had to choose between whether you died or a non-Christian died, would you be willing to die so that, that non-Christian could live.
Think carefully, because that is the same choice Jesus had to make. And in making His decision Jesus showed us what true love is.
Please think about it.
The apostle John writes,
“It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.
And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.” 2 John 1:4-6.
The apostle John throughout his gospel and his letters constantly comes back to “walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.”
He asks believers to Love one another. John states, “his (Christ’s) command is that you walk in love.”
Love is the key to being Christian. It goes back to the teachings of Jesus who when asked,
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40
Jesus who said,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,...” Matthew 5:43,44.
John in his gospel quotes Jesus as saying,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16,17.
John thought the message of love so important to the spreading of the gospel that he spoke over and over again both in his gospel and in his letters about it.
The love John spoke about is unconditional love. It is a love everyone who claims to be Christian MUST understand and put into practice.
The apostle Paul defines Christian love as,
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy,
it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails....
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a,13
This is unconditional love. God showed unconditional love by sending Jesus to die for us. The apostle Paul stating“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” Romans 5:6-11.
Think about it when we were sinners, enemies of God’s, He sent His son to die for our sins. This is unconditional love.
As Christians we must be willing to die to spread the message of Christ. Something many Christians around the world are doing.
However I look at Christians here in North America where I live and ask myself would many who claim to be Christians be willing to die for their enemy?
If you claim to be a Christian living in the United States or Canada would you be willing to die for an abortionist? Would you be willing to die for someone of a different lifestyle or faith?
Here is a question that was once posed to me. If you as a Christian were in a situation where you had to choose between whether you died or a non-Christian died, would you be willing to die so that, that non-Christian could live.
Think carefully, because that is the same choice Jesus had to make. And in making His decision Jesus showed us what true love is.
Please think about it.
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