August 5 2018
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another" ....John 13-17
Have you noticed something here? That the one great commandment of the New Testament is not law or grace but love! We are commanded to love one another, yes, but with whose love, ours or God's? I have to be very honest when I say this, "I can't of myself love anything or anybody!" I scarcely really know what love is except by definition. We know that God is love. We learn from the Holy Spirit of God that love is not just a feeling but an act of our will. I know from the Scriptures that "God is love!" Not just that "He so loved us". God's very character and nature is love. If this be true then I am not love in myself and I basically do not have any real love in me at all. But I have Christ and Christ is of God and is God! Should I choose to express the life of Christ towards others, then others will be getting loved from me without me even being conscious of it. Yes, He loves us! And He also causes us to love others by living out His life in us. Love is not a feeling but an act of our will!