Yesterday’s devotional touched Jesus’ greatest commandments which is loving God with all our hearts, with all our minds, with all our strengths and loving our neighbours as we love ourselves. This is the greatest of all the commandments in the Bible because it included all other commandments. Today’s devotional is going to touch more of Jesus’ teaching on love.
The hardest teaching of Jesus on love “…is to love our enemies more than ourselves.” By this teaching, Jesus made us know that loving those who love us will not make us more and better than the unbelievers. This is because unbelievers love those who love them too. In the Old Testament laws, it is proper to love our neighbours who are friends and hate those who show us their hatred. Jesus said we are to love our enemies and pray for those who hate us (Matt. 5: 43 – 45). Loving our enemies is one thing that makes us be like children of God in heaven and thus makes us perfect as God is perfect in heaven (Matt. 5: 45, 48). Jesus taught us by practice that, love for our neighbours’ means commitment to people’s highest good. This is far from the barbaric hate we extend to fellow beings these days. We kill ourselves and destroy our neighbours’ properties without fear of God. Our hate for our fellow beings has destroyed every system globally. We must learn how to save people’s lives rather than killing them. We lay down our lives for our friends by sacrificing our best needs for the needs of our neighbours. Reason Jesus said “Greater love has no one than this: to lay one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15: 13).
Jesus taught His disciples that it is through loving God, Himself and people around us that we can be unified with God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. He told them “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask my Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth” (John 14: 15 – 17a). Christians who cannot love will never have the Spirit of truth teaching them and helping them. This is a serious matter. The beloved, check yourself in the ways you love today. Does it go with hypocritical kinds of fake loving? *You reading this devotional must know that until we change from giving God, Jesus Christ and people around us cosmetic love, our relationship will not be unified with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
PRAYER:
Father, I want to be intimately united with you, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Help me to love people so as to achieve this in Jesus name!
POSITIVE CONFESSION:
I will no longer love God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and people on the surface level. So help me God!
bishopubaudenyi@hopealivechurch