“I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.”
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
Never underestimate the power of
Christian love. Jesus gave us a New Commandment to live by and it should be the
guiding force within our lives. Imagine if all of our thoughts, actions, and
deeds were actually dictated by this commandment. The way we interact with
other people would change drastically as the needs of our fellow human beings
would be lifted up above our own. We would be truly transformed as the Kingdom
of God is built up through us and by us. This is indeed the Christian Message.
God created us out of love and we are expected to demonstrate that love all of
our lives.
One of the biggest challenges
that we face regarding this is to love when we are not loved first or in
return. When we are faced with the dilemma, we must remember that Jesus loves
everyone unconditionally and we must use Him as an example of how we should
conduct ourselves. In any relationship love will be tested. It is much easier
to fail the test by turning our backs and walking away but that is not what
Jesus did to us. Thus, we should never do that to anyone else. We must remember
that everyone suffers from the same condition: our judgments and experiences
are clouded by sin. It is Satan who wants us to fail this test and divide
ourselves through acts of anger and hatred. God did not create hatred. We
created hatred and because of this it is inferior to anything that God has to
offer.
Every day must be an exercise
in getting closer to Jesus Christ. Vigilant prayer from the morning, throughout
the day, and at night will open our hearts to Him so that we may experience a
life with our savior. From there, everything will fall into place. When we are
challenged, then we must pray more, turning to our community for love and
support. Our dedication to our faith and to loving Jesus Christ must be
approached much the same way we dedicate ourselves to the physical aspects of
our existence. What is unseen and seemingly invisible to us is so much more
important than what is in front of us. Our spirituality reaches beyond the
limits of this world and reveals to us an eternal spiritual awareness. That
awareness is Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ commanded us to
love. He reminded us of the Greatest Commandment:
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your
soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The
second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself….”
Are we so arrogant so as to
ignore what he said?
Deacon Tom
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