ODJ: a noun or a verb
March 27, 2010
So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other (v.34).
READ: John 13:31-38
A recent movie portrayed a teenage girl who got pregnant and had to decide what to do with her baby. Her relationship with her boyfriend wasn’t working out, her dad’s first marriage had failed, and the couple to whom she decided to give her baby was having major marital issues. With broken relationships as the backdrop, she said some profound words to her father: “I guess I wonder sometimes if people ever stay together for good—like people in love. Dad, I just want to know that it’s possible for two people to stay happy together forever.”
More than 2,000 years ago, hours before He died, Jesus gave the secret to having an enduring love relationship with another human being. He gave His disciples a new, unused, unheard of command: “Love each other” (John 13:34). Was this really a new command? Hadn’t they heard it before? Maybe the new part of the command was changing love from an emotional noun (something you feel) and making it an active verb (something you do). Maybe the new part of the command was the standard of the command: “Just as I have loved you, you should love each other” (v.34).
Prior to this, the standard for loving their neighbors was a love for themselves (Leviticus 19:18). Now the standard was Jesus. In order for His kingdom to advance into the world, His band of followers would have to set aside personal competition, selfishness, and pride. They would need to wash one another’s feet, sacrifice for one another, submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21), and even be willing to die for each other (John 15:13).
The love that Jesus commands His followers to have for one another isn’t based in sappy emotion. It’s a love of service, duty, humility, sacrifice, and affection. —Marvin Williams
How would your relationships be different if you loved others with Jesus as your standard? What do you need to do to start loving others just as Jesus loves you?
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I agree with this ODJ. We need to remind ourselves about it each day. Love as an emotional noun is easy to accomplish but love as an active verb is really hard to accomplish. 我们一起加油吧！