Skip to main content

Love One Another


                “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)
          One of the ideas that has been wandering through my mind over the past few months is the idea of community and commitment – which I’m currently suspecting are the same thing. Today begins the exploration of that topic with the first of the “one another” passages. The first thing that needs to be addressed is linguistic. There are two words used in Greek to express the idea of “another.” The first describes another of the same kind, and the second, another of a different kind.
          In today’s passage, the another is another of the same kind. Some may resent the “us against them” interpretation, but that interpretation is not supported by the text. It does not say, “Love only one another who are like you.” Loving one another (of the same kind) is a great start place, but it doesn’t have to be the final destination.  
          Some might think that loving others of the same kind is too easy. It’s like loving yourself. If that were true, all our nuclear families and communities would be happy places filled with love, but that’s not the case. Loving “those folks, out there” is easier, because there’s some distance involved. Those folks aren’t in your face day after day, with the same irritating habits and failures they had yesterday.  And those irritating, failed people who are like you tend to be aware of your failures, whereas one of another kind might see you as heroic.
          As I think of this idea in the context of community and commitment, the first issue that comes to mind is who the others of my kind are. Jesus was speaking to the disciples, so that must be the primary set of one anothers that we’re supposed to love. It’s not the only set. Make a list of your “anothers of the same kind,” starting with your fellow Christians. Include family, friends, co-workers, fellow residents. Between you and God, which are your top five? Three? One? How are you doing at loving them? Do you have the courage to ask your #1 priority how they think you’re doing? I’ve got some thinking to do.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, anger, fear, jealousy, and lust can crowd out everything else. This is like
Post a Comment
Read more

The Right Road

          Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:7-12)                  For years before GPSes existed, I told people I wanted something in my car that would tell me, “Turn left in half a mile…turn left in a quarter mile…turn left in 500 feet… turn left in 100 feet…turn left now …You missed the turn, Dummy!” The problem isn’t necessarily that I get lost so much as I’m afraid I’ll get lost. I don’t want to have to spend my whole trip stressing over the next turn. I have the same problem with my spiritual journey.   
Post a Comment
Read more

Not Sharing

            Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure . (I Timothy 5:22) Today’s is a hard one. The part about not being hasty in the laying on of hands isn’t so much the problem unless your love language is Touch. We aren’t pastors. We don’t tend to be involved in commissioning anyone. What we don’t tend to think of when we hear “laying on of hands” is that it involves relationship and approval. Our sending them away as our representatives may not seem real to us, but just think about what being seen with the wrong folks can do to a reputation. I’ve heard that Billy Graham would not be in a room alone with a woman. Others follow the same policy, or at least make sure the door is open so that anyone who wants to can see that nothing’s going on. But the hard part is not sharing in the sins of others. What does it mean? It’s comparatively easy to say that being pure means not having sex with someone who is not our spouse.
Post a Comment
Read more