John 13:34-35 (NIV) “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.”

For every one of us that say that we are followers of Christ, there is something that we must deal with. We must deal with the new command that Jesus gave us. Jesus commanded us to love one another just as He has loved us. It is not a suggestion. I believe that this is something that many Christians do not give a lot of thought to, and it is evident by their actions. There are many brothers and sisters in Christ who have had problems with other believers and instead of doing what Jesus says to do and make things right, they ignore the teachings of Jesus and cut off the people that they have had issues with. Jesus made it abundantly clear what we must do in those situations, even telling us to stop offering whatever gift we are offering at the altar when we remember that someone has something against us so that we can first go and be reconciled to them (Matthew 5:23-24). The same is true if it is you who have something against someone else. Jesus is more interested in you and your brother or sister in Christ making things right between you than any gift that you can offer Him.

This new command is one that is violated by many over and over in their lives. They either ignore it, say that they are not ready to do that yet, or simply refuse to do it at all. By doing that, they are making light of what Jesus commanded, fooling themselves into thinking that it’s no big deal. Because of the violation of this command, many churches have experienced splits in their fellowships and many believers break fellowship with believers who they have had issues with. And if that were not bad enough, many even speak evil against one another behind each other’s backs. Others have cut off fellowship with one another due to political affiliations and views as if that had anything whatsoever to do with eternal things. This is not just a little wrinkle in our faith journey but is something that the devil has used to keep many believers on the sidelines of the spiritual battle that we are in, causing the Church at large to become weak and ineffective at reaching the lost for Christ. Jesus said that it would be in the display of our love for one another that people would recognize us as disciples of Christ. So if we don’t obey this command, are we truly disciples of Jesus?

May the Lord have mercy on us all and may He give us the grace we need to do one of the hardest things for a human being to do, which is to forgive one another when we hurt each other and to love our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ no matter what we think they have done to us. After all, forgiveness frees you from the bondage of bitterness and anger and allows the love of God to flow in you and through you so that you can obey this all-important new command that Jesus gave us. Jesus said that if we truly love Him, we will obey His commands. Let’s make sure that we are loving Jesus by loving one another.

Pastor Joey Vazquez