Are you sure?
This bookmark will be removed from all folders and any saved notes will be permanently removed.
The new commandment: To love as Jesus loved
Every time I came across the “new commandment” Christ Jesus gave his followers, “that ye love one another; as I have loved you” (John 13:34), I would groan because I felt not only incapable of doing so but unwilling. Although I desperately wanted to be obedient and love more, I just couldn’t summon up the love I thought I was supposed to feel for others. So, I prayed for God to help me understand how to love more fully and purely.
What came to me was that love isn’t an emotion or a feeling. The Bible clearly states that “God is love” (I John 4:16). So love is not a person and is not dependent on a person to call it forth; Love is God. The Bible also declares that we are God’s offspring and that everything comes from Him, so real love comes directly from God to each of us.
A passage in Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896 by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, helped me see that I must already have the God-bestowed capacity to love. In fact, I couldn’t not have it. She writes, “That man can break the forever-law of infinite Love, was, and is, the serpent’s biggest lie! . . .” (p. 123). This meant that Love is the law of God, a law that I was unable to break. This epiphany was huge!
Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.
