Commanded to Love
When evaluating God’s commands in the new covenant, it becomes overwhelmingly clear that there is one command and one command only. It is the command to love! 1 John 3:23 (NIV) summarizes this:
And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
2 John 5-6 (NIV) reiterates this:
And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
But the bar of love is set to the standard of Christ. When Jesus was speaking to His disciples when washing their feet, He said in John 13:34 – 35 (NIV):
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
We are to be famous for love!
In that, we clearly have been freed from the law of Moses. Romans 6:14 (NIV) says:
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Again Romans 8:2 (NIV) says:
because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
But that does not mean there is no law at all. We are freed from the law of Moses, but now we are under the law of love, or Christ’s law, which is also referred to as the law of the Spirit.
Paul clearly brings this out in 1 Corinthians 9:19 – 21 (NIV), when he says:
19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.
The simplicity of this one command is so freeing. But in that it requires dependency upon God Who is Love and is the Source of all love. After all the bar of love is set to love as Christ loves. John 13:34 (NIV) says:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
To love as Jesus loves is humanly impossible in and of ourselves. But the happy news is that you are not just human. You are one with the divine and are of His substance (2 Peter 1:4, NIV) states:
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
You are a son or daughter of God created in His image and likeness. In that union and communion with Him, love flows naturally.
John 15:4-5 (NIV) says:
4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
The beauty of this is that as we cultivate more intimacy and a clearer connection with the God we are already one with by His finished work alone, love flows naturally supernaturally. It is beautiful and effortless! We don’t strive to love, we retreat back to the place of our union with Love and from that place we can’t help but love. In this, we fulfill His love command and draw the world to Him!
To find out more about the amazing love that flows from the heart of God, check out my book, Marked by Love.
