Love One Another

John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

Before our Lord departed from the presence of His disciples, He gave them a new commandment. He told them to love one another. We hear this phrase a lot in the Church; "love one another". But we take it a bit lightly compared to the reality of what Jesus meant by it.

Jesus' command to love was not one to have affection for each other or even to show each other affection. To "love one another" is to show real caring, real actions. We are commanded to love one another in the sense that we take care of each other, lift one another up in prayer, encourage each other, and even challenge each other. Sometimes these actions require more action than we are comfortable with. But in order to fulfill Christ's commandment, we are to sacrifice for each other, even doing things we don't have the desire to do.

As we watch the example Jesus set for us during His time on this earth, we see a man who not only gave so much of His time for His friends, He gave His very life to save them (and us). We're not called to die for our friends, necessarily, but can't we just give up some of our comforts to show love to one another?