Listen to this devotion
How, Lord … can I be more loving?
In the Word
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12).
Of the Word
Jesus did not suggest we love each other — He commands we do it. So does that include showing love to the car mechanic who swears and smells bad, the check-out girl with all the tattoos and piercings, and the woman in the office who gossips about each of us, and my enemies? Yes, it does. The command is “love each other” (John 15:12b).
In His command Jesus is not talking about emotional love. He is talking about love in action: the kind of love that is more patient and forgiving, a love that will not react in anger to the gossip in the office, a love that uses kind words and shows a smile to the car mechanic and check-out girl, a love that is not prejudiced, a love that is not too busy to listen to someone who is hurting.
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth (1 John 3:18). This love in action is a learned love and our teachers are a loving Father and His Son who show us how love can be accomplished: We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).
Walking with my Lord
Dear Lord, when I am confronted with people I find hard to love, show me how I can be loving. Remind me that in spite of all my sins You still love me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Mustard Seed: How, Lord? Marcia Gomulka and Myrna Lou Meyer, authors. 6/32 ©2011 Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, 801 Seminary Place Ste. L010, St. Louis, MO 63105. www.lwml.org
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations were taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved worldwide.
