Giving Away Love

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." ~ Jesus

I heard a message the other day that really challenged me in my understanding of these verses. Understanding commandments from a grace perspective can be difficult depending on how long we have actually walked in grace. Does that make sense? For me it means that I am learning how to hear the Lord not as a drill sergeant but as a loving Father. I hear Jesus endearing His disciples - inspiring them into love and action. Who can doubt that from reading these words? Maybe today, for the first time, you will hear the Lord teach you to love others with the same love that He has given you.

We love others out of the same love we have received from Jesus. This means that love is not something that we create or "work up" - it's something we release into the lives of others. There's no plan for increasing in love other than increasing in your awareness of His love for you. There's no strategy in love other than there is no one who should be excluded. If we struggle loving others, we should allow God to overwhelm us with His love. It makes all the difference in the world.

Think about the love of God that has been on display since before the foundation of the world [Ephesians 1:4]
Think about how the love of God was demonstrated in the crucifixion of Jesus [Romans 5:8]
Think about the fact that God wants you to grow in your understanding of His love [Ephesians 3:19]
Meditate on these things, embrace the unconditional love that God has for you, and then give it away.

The reality of a grace filled life is this: We give out what we have been given.

If God has given us EVERYTHING we need for life and godliness - and He has - then we should never come up short in this area. There is not one person in this world who is outside of the love of God. There is not one person who cannot be touched, encouraged, or made to feel like somebody through the love of God because we have been given His love so freely.

What if Jesus would have said...
By your works - this is how all men will know that you are my disciples.
Can you imagine how much activity there would be in the church?
By your Scripture memorization - this is how all men will know that you are my disciples.
Christian bookstores would be hard pressed to sell Bibles because each of us would be a walking Bible.
By your separation from the world - this is how all men will know that you are my disciples.
Then we would probably see an exclusive Christian community that was gated with no access to outsiders.
However, Jesus never made those statement. He said that the living, breathing, proof that we were His disciples would come through the love that we give to one another.
Is it any wonder that the world struggles to understand who we really are in the earth? They hear us talk about the unconditional love of God but they rarely (if ever) experience it from those who claim to belong to Jesus.

Now...before you start cranking up your love engine to make sure that you are fulfilling a command, let me challenge you. This is not a command to do more. This is not a command that you can work out in your own strength and ingenuity. This decree from Jesus is an invitation to experience His love fully so that you can give it away freely. Hear His words - AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, LOVE ONE ANOTHER. Give out what you have been given.

This is no different than what I shared with you yesterday. You can forgive because you have been forgiven. You can show mercy because you have received mercy. You can shower people with love because it has been showered upon you. The list goes on and on. God is not asking anything from you that He has not already given you. Religion will tell you to give to God what He needs. Our relationship with God on the other hands provides what we need so that we can freely give it. How's that for the goodness of God?

In your journey with the Lord, the greatest discovery that you can have is that you are deeply loved by God. He loves you because He loves you. And out of this place of incredible, unconditional, love - you can love others. Take time today to immerse yourself in His love. As Ephesians 3 tells us, it's the knowledge of this love that brings us into the fullness of God. Imagine what the world would look like with a bunch of God's kids totally consumed by His love. WOW!!! What a concept. The challenge to our mindset is this - IT CAN BE A REALITY.