Reflection
The Scripture we chose to accompany the second value of Loving Well is:
‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’
John 13:34-35
This reminds us of the ‘new command’ that Jesus gave to us and that is at the heart of the new covenant in his love. Everything had been leading to this. We are no longer under the law. The laws that God had given were summed up in this one thing:
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’
Gal.5:14
It is the primary way in which our faith is expressed:
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Gal.5:6
Our key verse also reminds us that our love for one another is what will make the world sit up and notice.
See how these Christians love one another.
Early church father, Tertullian
Such is its importance that we want to make this love real. It’s more than a word we bandy around or have vague aspirations towards. To help us do that, let’s end with a longer passage, the most famous passage, about love and let us pursue this ‘most excellent way’:
Love never gives up.
1 Cor.13:4-7
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end
Prayer
Jesus, thank you for your new command. And thank you that you lead us into what you command by your most beautiful example. Help us, Lord, to love the way you do. Forgive us when we fail, but thank you that you are thrilled when we pursue it anyway, and you never give up on us. Amen.