Love - Week 1
Monday
Mark 10.17-22
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Jesus looked at him and loved him.
This one sentence gives this passage an entirely different feel than if it was absent. Without these words Jesus’ actions could be interpreted in any number of ways. Maybe he was being mean, trying to set this man up. Maybe he was being sarcastic, using his wit to hurt this man. Or maybe Jesus was being cruel by giving this man an impossible command – sell everything and give the proceeds to the poor – in full knowledge that he couldn’t and/or wouldn’t do it.
But Jesus looked at him and loved him.
He wasn’t being mean or sarcastic or cruel. Instead, he loved this man.
But there’s a really important part of that sentence that is easy to overlook – Jesus looked at him. Jesus saw this man for who he was – a confused but faithful Jew who had placed his riches (and/or the reputation that came with them) in a place that should be reserved for God.
And as Jesus looked at this man, seeing him, warts and all, he loved him. Jesus didn’t wait for this man to shape up. He didn’t tell him that he had to believe and behave before he could belong.
No. Jesus looked at him and loved him.
Furthermore, Jesus didn’t look at this man and see who he could become and love that potential person. No. Jesus loved the man standing right in front of him.
And here’s where we get a clearer idea of what it might look like for us as we live a Spirit-synced life.
The Holy Spirit will encourage us from within to look at the people in our lives. The Spirit will demand that we see them for who they are, not who we want them to be. He’ll have us pay attention to their failures and their successes, their downfalls and their strengths, their circumstances and their will power. He’ll have us look at them.
And then he’ll call us to love them.
In Jesus’ case that meant saying something hard to a person who had it all. This man was a good Jew, from what we gather here, and he was wealthy, which granted him great power and prestige in the ancient world.
It was to that man that Jesus spoke the truth in love. It was to that man that Jesus said what was hard.
Love doesn’t mean giving someone what they want. It doesn’t mean coddling them. It doesn’t mean overlooking who they are.
No. Love means putting the interests of others before our own no matter the cost or benefit.
That’s what Jesus did for this man.
And, let’s be honest, that’s what Jesus has done for us.
Now, as we are synced with the Spirit, we are being called to emulate Jesus.
So, in our lives, let us look at all those that God has cross our paths, and, by the power of the Spirit, let’s love them.
~Matt Barnes
Tuesday
John 11.32-36
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.“
Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
How many times have we heard the verse from the children’s song that says – “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so?" I believe that stanza tells all we really need to know about Jesus – He loves us unconditionally. No matter who we are or what we do, He will love us unconditionally. The challenge for us is to go forth and do likewise.
Have you ever realized how Jesus models for us grieving as a part of His perfect love?
In our passage today from John 11:32-36, we see this stanza lived out to the fullest. To set the stage, Jesus had been told his friend Lazarus was dying. His disciples urge Him to go and heal him but Jesus declares Lazarus is only asleep and He, Jesus, will awaken him later. Jesus waits and finishes his ministry and arrives at Lazarus’ house to hear people mourning for Lazarus, as they assumed he had died. Martha confronts Jesus in anger for not coming earlier.
So what does Jesus do? He tells his friends “I am the resurrection and the life…whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Let’s see what else He did:
Jesus loved Mary and comforted her
Jesus was moved by the weeping of friends
Jesus wept himself
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead
As I think about applying this on a daily basis, I urge you to rely upon the fact that Jesus loves you and will never forsake you even up to the point of death. Just like in Psalm 23, He will be your Good Shepherd and walk with you even through the shadow of death.
When called upon, be ready and willing to walk with someone just like Jesus does for you. Your presence at a difficult time is displaying God’s love to your friend or neighbor. Follow Jesus’ model to mourn deeply, grieve, walk with, and have empathy for those you love. By following His example, you are living out the Great Commandment to “Love your Neighbor.”
~Bill Mead
Wednesday
John 11.1-11
11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
Why is it that we stay in abusive relationships or hold our tongue when loved ones ask us questions we feel they wouldn’t like to hear the truth about? Is our idea of love so filled with fuzzy bubbles, fuchsia hearts, and positive vibes that we don’t perceive anything else as loving? Love doesn’t always feel great, but it always acts in the best interest of the beloved.
When I was preparing to propose to my wife Caryn, we had a not-so-fuzzy loving moment. We were at a place in our relationship where we needed to know we were committed to moving forward together.
Caryn called me and asked me where we stood, and my response to her was simple “I don’t know.” At that moment one hand was on the phone talking to her, my other hand clutched my newly acquired engagement ring and I pondered my love and commitment for her. How agonizing it must have felt for Caryn to hear that, only to be proposed to months later. Many times in Scripture we see Christ’s love manifested in similar not-so-fuzzy ways.
In John 11:1-11 we see this story of not-so-fuzzy love on display. Christ is attending to ministry when he finds out a dear friend is deathly ill. Everyone connected to both have a strong sense that Christ will drop what he’s doing and head straight to handle this concern, but to the surprise of the beloved Jesus doesn’t. Christ stays for a few more days attending to what He must and by the time he attends to Lazarus it’s too late and Lazarus is dead. Then Christ puts His love on display and raises Lazarus back to life!
Could it be that Jesus saw this as the most loving thing to do? Was it more loving for him to attend to those who needed him in the city and come and demonstrate an even greater commitment to Lazarus’ and his family by raising Lazarus back to life?
How often do we display this greater love? Do we cave in and pacify our children when they whine and whimper for the toy, candy, or device or do we love them and delay their gratification trusting that it is better for them? Do we stay silent on the issues that we know need confrontation in order to keep the peace or do we confront the issues and become “peace makers”?
How can you follow Christ’s lead in love?
Please take a moment to reflect on any impressions you feel and write down one or two ways you will prayerfully make adjustments.
Now, schedule a time to share them with a friend who will keep you accountable and encourage you along the way.Christ proclaimed the world will know we are His followers by our love! May we follow His lead!
~Mark Fields
Thursday
John 15.9-17
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.”
In Singapore, I had the privilege of going to a rather prestigious all-boys Christian school. One of the things that I remember clearly about this school was the assembly hall in which we had chapel services once a week. Hanging on one of those walls was a plaque with names written of former students who had died in the course of serving in the nation’s armed forces. Written at the top of the plaque was the scripture we just read, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
What made this plaque even more poignant to me was that one of those names was of a relative of mine, who died tragically in an accident while serving as a pilot in the Air Force. I never met him, since he died before I was born. Sometimes, during chapel, I would gaze up at his name emblazoned on that plaque and wonder what his life might have been if he had not gotten into his plane that fateful day, and what loss and sadness our family went through when they received the terrible news.
While we mourn the tragic loss of any life, especially those given in service to their country, we see that the context in which Jesus spoke these words was quite different. Jesus knew that his time had come, and he willingly laid his life down for his friends.
That’s how much Jesus loves us. Jesus’ life was not taken from him. Rather, he gladly laid his life down out of love and compassion for us. It was according to God’s plan. Jesus knew very well that there was no other option for humanity to be saved and he did not shrink from the challenge. This changes everything about his death.
I find it interesting that Jesus in this passage tells us that obeying him is evidence that we love him. We are called to love and obey God with all of our hearts, and when we obey God he calls us his friends!
And in the next breath Jesus points out that obeying him means loving each other. How difficult is it to love one another? In this passage, we remember that Jesus was about to go to the cross as he spoke these words. So love is costly – and sometimes it will demand all that we have, all that we are.
We are reminded that love is a choice, a decision. It can be really hard at times to love someone, but we are encouraged to remember Jesus’ hard decision to go to the cross for us. We are here today because of his love and grace. Can anything he asks us to do be too hard?
~Walter Alexander
Friday
John 13.34-35
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
We live in a culture that is obsessed with newness.
We all want to own a new car, even though new cars are one of the worst investments we can make.
We all want to look and feel younger (a bit closer to being a newly-minted human being), even though we know full well that our experiences – good and bad – have helpfully shaped our lives as more mature adults.
We all want to watch the latest movies, even though we all know that ticket prices are utterly outrageous.
And we all want to have many new experiences (implying that they are better than our tired old experiences), even though we often have pleasant and God-honoring rhythms which are born out of our typical set of experiences.
New is not always better.
So when we read this passage it’s easy to carry all of that baggage with us. We are either obsessed with newness and our ears perk up when Jesus talks about it, or we avoid new things like the plague and we tune Jesus out.
But Jesus’ point here has less to do with the newness of his command and more to do with the importance of it.
Jesus says to his closest friends and followers that they should love one another. They should put the interests of one another first.
What’s so new about this? Doesn’t the Old Testament contain lots of commands for folks to be loving too? Yes, and quite often.
But the newness of this command is found through examining its importance. This command to love one another was so important that Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, became human, lived a perfect life, died a traitor’s death, was risen from the dead on the third day, and ascended to heaven to intercede for those who believe in him.
Jesus says it much more compactly: As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
So the newness of the command to love one another – to put one another’s interests first – is found in how important it was to God, important enough for Jesus to sacrifice himself.
And what’s the result of this love? Why is loving one another so important for us to do as followers of Jesus?
First, in so doing we obey Jesus, the one who gave himself for all of us.
And, second, when we love one another, the watching world will know that we’re disciples of Jesus. That sentence needs some unpacking.
What’s a disciple? A disciple is a fancy word that means something like a dedicated pupil. To put it in modern lingo – a disciple Jesus is a person committed to a life of obeying Jesus by imitating his life.
So how does our love of one another indicate to the watching world that we’re life-long learners of Jesus? Because the love that Jesus demonstrated for us and that we’re to share with one another is so rare in this world. When we truly love sacrificially, it will stand out against the overwhelming background of selfishness in our human cultures.
So Jesus made the ancient command to love new by demonstrating it in his life. Let us do the same, being led by the Spirit to put the interests of one another before our own!
~Matt Barnes
Saturday
John 13.1-5
13 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
No socks, no shoes, just dirty old feet. That’s what you would be left with at the end of the day in Jesus’ time. You had spent hours upon hours walking on dirt roads through villages and towns without any modern sanitary regulations. Your feet would pick up some serious filth. At the end of your travels when entered someone’s home, you probably would want to pay them respect by making sure your feet were clean. Maybe a servant would come and assist with the cleansing.
But who cleans the disciple’s feet in this scenario? Jesus.
Time and time again Jesus performed acts of love in front of the disciples while they were surprised and almost resistant to his powerful love. Every time Jesus gave an act of love or servanthood, the first reaction of the followers would be to resist. It was difficult for them to fathom that God could do something so humbling. God would enter into their space and come down to their level.
I’m about to become a parent and one thing I am not looking forward to is the plethora of dirty diapers that await me. But for me as a parent, it is something that has to happen. I literally have no choice. I must keep my child healthy and clean, even though she may be resistant (and maybe me too!). But I know that my heart toward my child will always be love. I am willing to keep up that rhythm because I deeply love her, and she obviously can’t do it herself. If she could she would be a super baby.
Jesus is lowering himself out of love and trying to convey to the disciples that there are some things that they cannot do themselves. And they felt really uncomfortable with Jesus cleaning their feet. This was their hero and their Savior.
But maybe the more discomfort we feel in the situation is an indicator of the greater evidence of love being displayed. In those moments when we feel unlovable, worthless, or dirty, we may feel inclined to resist. But if we accept God’s cleansing gentle love, and approach, we will realize the purpose is for our transformation.
1. Name a time in your life where you felt resistant to someone’s act of loving service towards you.
2. Name a time when you finally let yourself receive an act of loving service.
3. Obviously we can’t run around trying to wash the feet of friends and random people. But we can mimic Christ’s humbling approach to His disciples. Think about the heart of Jesus behind the cleansing of the disciple’s feet. How do we take that same heart and transfer it to those around us. What actions would take place to show that same kind of servanthood?
~Perry Hawkins