Love just as He did

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.''' John 13:34,35 ESV

Before the beginning of Saturday's 7th Annual Army Engineer Association 5k I was blessed to attend, the runners piling up at the start line were informed that Tom Chambers, a man who had worked at the Army Engineer School for more than a decade, had died. We were then asked to observe a moment of silence in his honor. And as I closed my eyes to do that very thing, I prayed, "I didn't know this gentleman Lord but he must have touched a lot of lives to have earned this special tribute. May I live a life worthy of being remembered too. But more than anything Lord, may I be remembered as a woman who loved her Jesus with a passion that led her to love everyone she knew." 

And you know, when it comes to showing the world that we love the Lord, Jesus said, "just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples..." That means people will only know we love the Savior when we love them to an equal degree and in the exact same way He loved us when He went to the cross to die for our sins. That means loving people who might never love us back, loving people who are addicted, diseased and dirty and loving people to the point we act upon that love, giving all we have to help them with no thought of getting anything in return. 

I don't know about you my friend, but loving Jesus and others just as He loved me, and continues to love me, is the only legacy I care to leave behind. After all, loving others is the only thing that will have mattered when my days are done and I go home to meet the One who gave all of us the perfect example of love to follow. What legacy do you want to leave?

Heavenly Father, thank You for loving us when we were so undeserving of it. Your Word tells us that You loved us even while we were turning our backs on You as You made your way to the Cross to die for our sins. Help us to truly grasp the enormity of that Lord that we might love others in the same sacrificial way. It's in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen. 

Happy Running!!!

Loving my Jesus - Casting Crowns