John 15:12-17
12 Jesus said to his disciples: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. 16 It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. 17 This I command you: love one another.”
Love can be commanded because it has first been given. To love our fellow human being as God loves us is imitating Jesus who loves us as the Father loves Him.
ReplyDeleteLove is a decision that remains even unto death. Is there a love greater than laying down one’s life for one’s friends? None. Jesus Himself is the supreme example of this love. It brought Him to the cross and the Father’s love raised Him from the dead. Jesus spent Himself, gave Himself until He had nothing more to give. He emptied Himself.
In everything He did, Jesus always chose to love. His choice was not a once-and-for-all event; He chose to love at all times. This choice drained Him and squeezed out all the life in Him.
The true measure of love is love without measure.