"So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other." John 13:34
Not only do I love that my job at a medical office leaves my mornings free to run and train, I love that it gives me opportunities nearly every day to minister to the lost and hurting. Yesterday was no exception as a long-time patient came in looking as if she'd been crying. "What's wrong sweetheart?" I asked. It’s then that she told me that her 36-year-old daughter was in the hospital after suffering a stroke just hours before, and she was on the way to see her as soon as she left. Knowing a mother's heart and sensing her pain and worry, I gently reached out over the counter, cupped her hands in mine and began praying, "Father, we love you and we thank you for your faithfulness. Father you know our needs before we even speak them...." And after our Amens were said, she opened her tear-filled eyes, and said, "Thank you. I really needed that."
You know, I could easily have just wished her well and promised to pray for her. I mean, that's Christian-like behavior too right? Maybe. But I believe Jesus calls us to do much more. You see, when He told us to "love each other," He didn't mean to love each other in the way the world defines love - an intense feeling of deep affection. No. He commanded us to love others "just as" He loved us. And if Jesus loved us so much that He would give his life to save us from our sins, you can bet that His love was more than just an intense feeling of deep affection. You can bet that it was a limitless, incomprehensible and undefinable love - a love that compelled Him to unhesitatingly reach out to the lost and the hurting to offer the genuine concern and compassion that only a Father who dearly loves his children can show.
So would you say that you are loving others "just as" Jesus loved you? I hope so. Because this sacrificial love not only has the power to bring unbelievers to Christ, it has the power to change the world my friend... one person at a time. But it starts with you and me.
Heavenly Father, thank You for loving us more than we could ever deserve or ever imagine. Help us to love others in the same way that we might lead them to the Cross. Give us a sense of urgency Lord and a boldness that can't be contained to joyfully encourage, sacrificially love, and unashamedly witness to a world in desperate need of the hope only You can bring. It's in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen.
Happy Running!!!
Proof of your love - King and Country
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