Love One Another

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you (John 15:12, NIV).

One evening back around Christmas I was showering before I settled in for the evening to watch some basketball or a cheesy Hallmark movie. I live alone and I don’t take long showers, so when the water temperature gradually changed from hot to lukewarm in a matter of minutes I knew something wasn’t right.

Too tired (and maybe ornery) to deal with it that evening, I came home after work the next afternoon and walked downstairs to check out the water heater. I was greeted with a small puddle on the floor as water was leaking from the bottom of my rusted out water heater. Oops!

After making several phone calls I was able to turn off the gas source and cut off the water in order to prevent further issues. I was grateful it hadn’t created a bigger mess, but I also knew it meant a hot shower wasn’t going to be in my future. If you know me well at all, you know that a hot shower is one of my favorite things, so I decided not to settle on taking a cold one.

After sending a couple of texts, I packed up my stuff and drove up the road to my friend’s house. She was gracious enough to let me shower at her house that evening. Over the course of the next three nights, I house hopped in order to enjoy a hot shower after a long day of work.

Thanks to good friends who always come to my rescue, I was only without hot water at my house for a couple of days. As I spent some time reflecting on the inconvenience, my mind was drawn to John 15:12, which says: My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. What began as an inconvenience ultimately provided an opportunity for me to be on the receiving end of God’s love.

Many of you may have experienced this same thing last week when we experienced a historical storm with excessive, and prolonged, high winds that left thousands without power for days. I had so many great friends who lived out John 15:12 when they opened their home to me during my time of need. Thankfully, I was able to pay it forward to another friend who showered at my house a couple of mornings during their stint without power.

I saw the love of Jesus on display in a significant way last week. Friends opening their homes for meals and hot showers. Neighbors supplying generators so folks with medical needs could have access to electricity. This got me thinking and asking myself this question: What would it look like for all of us to reflect John 15:12 when it comes to how we treat and love others?

I am so thankful for friends and neighbors who show up in times of crisis and inconvenience, but may we spend some time today thinking about how we can be a reflection of the love of Jesus every single day. Let us not be motivated by selfish interests, but choose to act from a heart that knows we are fully and completely loved by God.

As we learn to do this we can step into each day with a heart oriented toward serving and loving others, just as Jesus commanded us to do. So I leave you with this today, my friends: Love one another.

#christ #john #thenarrowpath #faith #obedience #love #gratitude #jesus