How to Love One Another
Growing up, I had three younger brothers, and if you have multiple siblings, I’m sure you can relate to me here. We did not love one another well.
Sure, we loved each other. And we would stick up for each other against outsiders. But towards each other? We were awful.
We constantly fought over the most trivial of things. We fought over whose turn it was to watch the TV, or who had to complete a chore, or who was the best at coloring! Silly arguments were taken just as seriously as the most important of responsibilities.
And now, as a mom to three elementary-aged kids, I’m seeing the same arguments play out with my kids that I dealt with my siblings.
While I know that they love one another, they don’t know how to love one another well.
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How to Love One Another
My kids need to learn how to love one another well, and looking at the state of the world, I think it’s a lesson that we as adults could stand to learn as well.
Abide in Christ.
John 15:9
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
To abide means to remain in place, or to wait patiently for. We are to stay with Christ and patiently wait for Him to return. We can abide in Him by reading the Bible and praying every day, as well as by being obedient to His call on our lives.
Keep God’s commandments.
John 15:10
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
In order to abide in Christ, we need to keep God’s commandments. Christ won’t stop loving us if we don’t keep God’s commandments; rather, we show God that we love Him by keeping His commandments.
If my child lies to me, sees how much he has hurt me, and then promises to never do it again, he can show me how much he loves me by keeping that promise. I won’t stop loving him if he lies to me again; but I will be hurt, and I might question if he truly does love me because if he loves me as he says he does, then why would he do something to hurt me?
The same is true with our relationship with God. If the Holy Spirit has opened our eyes to a way that we are hurting God, then the best way we can show God our love is by changing our actions.
Love as Christ first loved us.
John 15:12
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
We love because He first loved us. Christ offers us a perfect example of what it means to love one another, and we can follow his example when learning how to love one another well.
Put others first.
John 15:13
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Christ died for us, and while we may not be faced with physically dying for one another, we can lay down our lives for our friends by putting others first.
Instead of always thinking about what I’m getting out of the relationship, I should instead focus on serving my friends and asking how I can help them.
Dear God, thank you so much for providing us with a perfect example of how to love one another well.
I am grateful that we get to read of your love and example through your Word. I pray that as we move forward in this life, we will all learn how to love one another well. In Jesus’ name, amen.
As adults, my siblings and I treat each other much kinder than we did growing up, but we still have a long way to go in learning how to love one another well. I pray that as we move forward with this life, we will all learn how to look to Christ’s example and love one another better.
Blessings Friend.
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