Love One Another

 John 15:12-17

My commandment is this – to love one another just as I have loved you.

No one has greater love than this – that one lays down his life for his friends.

You are my friends if you do what I command you.

I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything I heard from my Father.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.

This I command you – to love one another.

This is very straightforward and not easy to misunderstand; we are to love each other, plain and simple.

But my (insert) are toxic. My (insert) betrayed me. My (insert) cheated me. 

IT DOESN’T MATTER! LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

I’m not saying to stay in a situation or friendship that’s toxic or abusive. No! 

We are to build safe boundaries for our relationships.

There is a fantastic book on the subject of boundaries by Henry Cloud. I highly recommend it.

We currently live in a world where hate is celebrated by being broadcast as “News”. Our minds meditate on what we put into it. I heard a friend say once, “garbage in, garbage out.” Simply put, what we fill up with is what spews out.

I want my life the spew out love! Love for those who don’t agree with me politically, who are in a different space socially, who choose lifestyles that don’t agree with my theology. This is hard! But we are commanded to love one another, plain and simple.