Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father show us how we fit into his plan for the growth and joy of his people. Father, you have called us to be a part of your family. And as family, you have called us to love one another in such a way that it will mark who we are to others. But help us to obey the full command, to do more than just pour ourselves out for others. Help us to allow others to pour into us. To pray for us and with us, to support us, to encourage us, to help us. Father, in the name of your son Jesus and by the Spirit in us, help us to love in a full, whole, obedient way. Let our love please you Lord.
Your Morning Song: "How Great is Your Love" by Phil Wickham
Your Morning Scripture: John 13:34-35
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.
Jesus is speaking here to his disciples, having just washed their feet, telling them to love one another so deeply and so whole-heartedly that it would become the distinctive trait marking Jesus's followers.
And we could focus on that, as many of us have when we've read this text or taught this text. And we should at least ask a few questions of ourselves here. How are we known as Christians? What is the distinctive trait that marks us? People see us going to church? We post verses on our social media? We have a Jesus-y bumper sticker? Or is it because we love our brothers and sisters in Christ more than life itself? What is the cornerstone of our Christian identity? Is it Christ's love? Or something else? Something less?
But there is also another way to discuss these verses, to process them. Yes, Christ commands us to love one another in this way. And many of us are quick to love in this way. Good. But we struggle to let others love us in this way. Oops! What an odd thing. I struggle with this. I love others but struggle to let them love me. Christ's command to love one another as he has loved us also includes allowing others to love us in this way.
For many of us this is hard, letting others love us. But if we do not, then we are not only denying them their chance to obey Jesus, but we are denying Jesus himself.
This traps me. I am uncomfortable letting other people love me. But I am more uncomfortable denying Jesus.
So the next time someone asks how they can pray for me, maybe I be a little more honest and not just say some true but generic thing.
Maybe I take people up on their offers when they say that they'll give me a hand with something.
Maybe I ask my Heavenly Father to show me the ways in which I'm denying his son's command. And ask him to give me the courage to let others love me.
Sometimes loving other people is letting them love you.
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