As I Have Loved You

[Ebn Barbara]

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35).

A commandment that the Lord gave to His disciples.. and to us after them.. that we love one another.. and if you ask all the believers about this subject, they will most certainly answer that they know it, and do this..
But today the Holy Spirit led me to meditate on the phrase following the Lord’s commandment to His disciples and to us, to love one another and it is:
As I have loved you..
So that we discover if we love one another..
But as the Lord has loved us. Not just any love.. but as the Lord has loved us!!!

What does this phrase mean: As I have loved you?
First of all we will find in these verses part of the answer, and we will discover other meanings in our meditation:
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” (John 15:12-14).
The sign of real love is to lay down one’s life for his friends..
And this is what the Lord has done on the cross..

Doing this might be easy when we have to lay down our life or at least when we sacrifice for, forgive or help our friends.. and this is what Paul the apostle said:
“For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:7-8).

But.. God demonstrated His own love toward us, for Christ died for us while we were still sinners..
Which means: far from Him.. His enemies in our thinking, in our saying, in our actions, blasphemers, adulterers, merciless, angry, proud, self-lovers, thieves, self-seekers, and so on and so forth of similar things..
This is how the Lord loved us.. and this is the love He asked us to manifest to one another..

As I have loved you.. this means:
As He has loved the adulteress woman and didn’t condemn her; rather He forgave her and released her..
As He has loved Peter when he denied Him, and He appeared to him first..
As He has loved Judas despite His foreknowledge that he will betray Him and sell Him out..
As He has loved all who crucified Him, as He said: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do”..
And as He has loved all the sinners previously mentioned despite all they have done to Him..

This is how the Lord has loved us.. saying: “Love one another as I have loved you”..
And here comes the question: Do we love one another as the Lord has loved us?
I believe that if we were true and sincere with ourselves, our answer has to be: NO.
But we don’t have to stay that way, rather we should start from somewhere, in order to obey and do the Lord’s command..
This if we want to be His disciples and to let the world know that we are His disciples, and to be His friends as He said to us:
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

Let’s start first by what Paul the apostle said:
“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving for one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” (Ephesians 4:31 – 5: 2).

In all the churches we only find divisions, strife and competition, whether it is declared or hidden in the heart.. and we need to search minutely to see the love of the brothers and sisters to one another.. and by love I mean the love that the Lord has commanded, i.e. as He has loved us..
The majority is hurt from each other.. solitary.. isolated from each other.. meetings are dry or formal.. many complaints and grumblings about each other, and the church is divided into several groups.. and the reason is: we feel at ease with those persons but we don’t with the others..
But this situation is against the unity that the Lord has commanded.. and dear beloved, this takes away from us the blessing, and the multitude of fruit..
The reason for all this is one and only: we don’t love one another as the Lord has loved us..
Because Paul the apostle said:
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

And Peter the apostle said: “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins’” (1 Peter 4:8).
This is what love does.. the love of the Lord.. when it is within us:
You are offended, but you forgive and you love..
You are not appreciated, but you forgive and you love..
You are misunderstood, but you forgive and you love..
You are insulted, but you bless and you love..
You are persecuted, but you forgive and you love..
You discover other people’s sins and faults, but you cover them and you love..
You carry other people’s burdens.. you fight their fights.. you pray for them at the mercy seat..
Because love never fails dearly beloved..

Dear beloved, if each one of us did this.. only then we will become a blessed and fruitful church.. when the people enter the church they know that we are the Lord’s disciples.. we become a living testimony to them.. and our life attracts them and make they long to know the Lord..
So in order for souls to be brought to the Lord, they should find in us what they cannot find in themselves or in the world.. otherwise why would they choose to join God’s family!!!

We have to be one family.. one spirit.. one man in war and in tribulation, so in the midst of those challenges, wars and tribulations we go through, we need more than ever to be a support to one another, gathered together, supporting each other, and not to be far from each other, scattered, rude in our relationship with one another.. for our enemy is one: Satan, and we are not each other’s enemies..

For when we say that we love each other.. most probably we love those who loved us, and do good to those who are charitable to us.. but the people in the world and the sinners do those things, and the Lord himself certified to this when He said:
“And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. ‘But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.’” (Luke 6:31-35).

“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:44-45).

As I have loved you..
That is to love those who don’t love us, and be charitable to those who are not good to us, to bless those who curse us, pray for those who offend us.. and love even our enemies.. so if this is the level required of us.. how can’t we love our brothers and sisters who we live with, serve with and evangelize with?

Beloved: we were called to preach the gospel to all creation.. that is to the sinners with whom most probably we don’t have any bonding or relationship.. and we may be exposed to persecutions, dangers, hardships and challenges.. but what lets us persevere and finish the way is our love for the Lord and our love for the lost souls..
For if we cannot bear each other and love each other, how can we love the sinners who are far from us?
Some of you may say that they love the Lord very much.. but they cannot love some people for several essential reasons.. but the word of God tells us today:
“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”
(1 John 4:20-21).

Beloved: it is time to give the word of God the chance to reveal our inner thoughts and judge our motives and behaviors, in order for us to correct things; we all have to repent, be united again, and love one another.. but this time exactly as the Lord has loved us, and not with any other love..
Finally, come let us make this experiment together.. think of a person you love very much.. here the thoughts of the fathers and mothers will most probably go toward their children.. and ask yourself what would be your reaction if this person offends you, mistreats you or is not kind to you..
Of course you will be a little bit upset, but for a short time.. then you will forgive him, justify his behavior, defend him, and convince yourself that what he did is justified and you find excuses for him..
Do you know the reason?
There is only one reason: you love him

Dear beloved, this is how our relationship with one another should be.. also we need to let it grow everyday.. so that we arrive to the stage where we love one another as God has loved us..

A final and important point..
Do not try to do this relying on the love you may find within yourself.. because none of us found any.. rather do not forget that God didn’t leave us orphans.. but He sent the Holy Spirit to us.. to help us in our weakness.. do not forget also, that the first of the fruits of the Holy Spirit that the word of God mentioned is: love.. and do not forget that the love of God is unconditional, the love that the Lord loved us with, was poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control...” (Galatians 5:22-23).

“… because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:5).

This is why ask Him to fill you with the love of God every day, for the filling by the Holy Spirit is the only true solution, and will make you love and love and love… in all circumstances, and under the pressure of all that you may face..

Let us love one another as the Lord has loved us.. and let us trust that love never fails, and that the fruit that is waiting for us will be great for each one of us, for the church and for the kingdom.