“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” – John 15:12 (NKJV)
Imagine this scenario: You loaned money to a friend who couldn’t repay, and you forgave the debt. Later, you witness that friend violently confronting someone over a debt of only 1% of what you loaned them. How does that make you feel?
Believe it or not, this is what some of us do today. God gave up His only begotten son for our sins, and as our anchor scripture states, He asks that we love our brothers the same way he has loved us.
How can the believer in Christ love as Christ loved?
As believers, we have the Holy Spirit living in us (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). By obeying the leading of the Spirit and taking heed to the Word of God, the believer can love as Christ does. We can show unconditional, sacrificial, forgiving love to fellow believers and the world.
Here are three ways you can show love to your brother:
One way to show love to your brethren is through giving. Giving is a selfless act that shows what you hold dearly. As believers, we ought to give our time, energy, and resources freely to our brethren if need be. That is what distinguishes us from the world.
We ought to embrace communal living as a church, just like the early Christians did (Acts 2: 9-11, 44-45). If you have material things and a brother or sister is in need, you ought to give it up for them. Otherwise, you are not showing God’s love (1 John 3: 17-18).
Do not bear a grudge against your brother or stay angry at him (Leviticus 19: 18). God cares about your relationship with your brethren, and He wants all His children to live in harmony and unity. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Be quick to forgive because God forgave your sins (Ephesians 4: 32).
The first two points become easy to achieve when we learn to love our brothers as ourselves (Romans 12: 9-10). In Mark 12: 30-31, Jesus tells us about the commandments which every believer must obey, and loving your neighbour as yourself is one of them. What you don’t like, you shouldn’t do to your brother. Put yourself in your neighbours’ shoes always, and treat them accordingly. It is a commandment.
As believers, our love for one another is an outward expression of our love for God and His unfailing love towards us. A distinguishing mark of being a follower of Christ is a deep, sincere love for brothers and sisters in Christ (John 13:35).
Dear believer, today and for the rest of your life, let how you treat your fellow brethren mirror God’s love for humanity and draw more people to God.
Bible Reading Plan: Matthew 11: 1-15