Love One Another

Read 1 John 3:11-4:21

Dave Kusumoto

Isn’t it amazing how liberal we are when it comes to using the word “love”? We often use it
to describe our feelings towards ice cream as well as how we value our spouses, parents, or
children. What is love anyway? What does it look like to love another person? The Hebrew
word for love is “ahava” and the root word found in “ahava” means, “to give.”

In 1 John 3:16-17, the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to
lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother
in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7,
love is defined as patient, kind, always protecting, always trusting, always hoping, and always
persevering. All those things require sacrifice or the giving up of something. It seems that
anything tied to God’s love is never self-serving—not to be confused with soft-serve
(ice cream).

God commands us to “believe in Jesus and to love one another.” (1 John 3:23) When asked by
the Pharisees in Mark 12:28-31, “Which commandment is most important?” Jesus answered,
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and
with all your strength” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

So what happened to all the other 8 commandments? This is where God’s love and sacrifice
comes in. To live under Old Testament laws a person would have to be perfectly righteous,
and except for Jesus no one has ever been perfectly righteous. God gave us the ultimate
gift of love; salvation through the sacrifice of His son. Through this act, grace was given and
righteousness has been restored, setting us free from condemnation.

God has also given us a helper, the Holy Spirit, so that He can live in us. Because God is love,
the Spirit also expresses perfect love. The challenge for us is not to live according to our fleshly
or sinful nature, but according to the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. (Romans 8:1-4).

P R AY E R
May we love God by loving one another. In loving and living this way, may I also be obedient
to the most important commandments: to love God and to love others as I love myself. In
Christ’s name, Amen.
 DAY 95

QUESTIONS
Are there people in your life that you find difficult to love?

How can you express God’s love to these people?

How can the Holy Spirit enable you to love those who you find unlovable?

MY REFLECTIONS
Does any particular verse (SCRIPTURE) in today’s reading speak to you?

OBSERVE what this verse is saying to you:

How can you APPLY this verse to your life today?

My PRAYER for today is: