"Love one another as I have loved you."
John 15:12
Francis of Assisi understood the command of Christ to love others as He loved us. He wrote the following prayer:
John 15:12
Francis of Assisi understood the command of Christ to love others as He loved us. He wrote the following prayer:
O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
If we admit it, all of us want to be loved, but not as many of us want to love. The only love which is unconditional and eternal is the love of God in Christ Jesus. Through Christ, we receive the Father's love poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). God's love in us is like water that must flow out of us to remain pure and powerful.
God's love can never be stagnant. It must flow with life. It always flows through us to others. When we refuse to let Christ love others through us, we block the flow of God's love in our own lives. Loving others through Christ is the secret to experiencing God's love continually and fully.
You may say, "There are just some people I could never love." That is true, if it depends upon what we can do. The secret of loving others is depending on what God can do through us. "God is love" (1 John 4:8). He comes to live in us that He may love through us.
God's love can never be stagnant. It must flow with life. It always flows through us to others. When we refuse to let Christ love others through us, we block the flow of God's love in our own lives. Loving others through Christ is the secret to experiencing God's love continually and fully.
You may say, "There are just some people I could never love." That is true, if it depends upon what we can do. The secret of loving others is depending on what God can do through us. "God is love" (1 John 4:8). He comes to live in us that He may love through us.
God, love others through us.
