A Devotional Corner

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
Deuteronomy 6:4-6 (NIV)


" 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD…”
Leviticus 19:18 (NIV)


On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" In reply Jesus said:
"A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
Luke 10:25-37 (NIV)


“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34,35 (NIV)

Posted by Jot.. at 9:28 pm | Permalink | Comments

It seems that the described problem had already appeared a few decades after the resurrection of Christ. This epistles of John is believed to have been written around A.D 85.

This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 1 John 3:11

And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 2 John 1:5

The two verses both contain “from the beginning” as if to tell the audience of that letter that “you should already know this”. It almost implies that the audience of the letter had forgotten to love each other!

I want to say that from A.D. 85 to A.D. 2009, the problem didn’t go away. Though the cause of the problem might be slightly different. It is probably because I have a bad memory, but I seriously cannot recall any sermons on the topic of “love believers”. Maybe it is because of the churches I attend. Or maybe people think that it’s not important.

Sermons usually are centered around certain topics. A lot of them are evangelical in nature. Focusing on Salvation and the good news to the world. A lot of sermons focus on daily issues, and Jesus’ teachings about everyday life. I love all these topics. But writing this post has made me think of “loving believers” as a neglected topic.

We are evangelically oriented. My early Christian services were on evangelism. It still is my mission and may it be the will of God that it will continue to be my mission. The church focuses on evangelism to the out side world. We are focused on the Great Commission. Our programs are evangelical in nature. We aim always to attract non-believers. We focus on being good witnesses to non-believers. We focus on giving good testimony to non-believers. We focus on reaching non-believers overseas by long term missions and locally by short term missions.

Please don’t get me wrong. I believe very very very much in evangelism. I think it is extremely extremely important. That is why I spend so much time and effort on it. I am now however, starting to realise that “loving one another” is even more important.

This is unproven, but I would like to propose that the direct phrase/command "love each other" or "love one another" is repeated more times than any other phrase or command in the New Testament.
I am beginning to think that “loving one another” is “above” evangelism. You must evangelise. But if evangelism stops you loving one another, then you are doing the wrong evangelism.

I don’t know if I should say this. But I will say this anyway because I believe that the truth is good. It is good for the truth to be known. Sometime when I attend church committee meetings, flares start flying and all sorts of human emotions are let wild. But us members are passionate Christians. Sacrificing our time and money and effort on the service of the church of believers. Sacrificing for the sake of the gospel. I have to say, it really does us no benefit if we do not love one another.

Loving one another must come first. If you do not know how to love each other, then do not evangelise. If you do not know how to love each other, then do not take up positions in the church. But you must evangelise and you must serve your God. So learn to love each other!

I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 2 John 1:5

Posted by Jot.. at 12:52 am | Permalink | Comments

This mindset is prominent among many “Church-goers”

Love non-believers, talk bible to believers.

This is not an incorrect mindset. But this is a secondary consequence of the primary objective. What is lacking in the mindset of many “church-goers” is the primary mindset.

Love believers, talk bible to non-believers.


When I brought this idea up with Ivan, I had some problems explaining this "new" idea to him. This got a bit clearer when we went down this thought pattern:
Compare the amount of time you spend loving a non-believer to the amount of time you spend loving a believer (this is assuming that you have some biblical concept of love).

There are about 250 verses in the New testament with the word “love” in it. I proposed to Ivan that this ratio of the time spent loving a believer to loving a non-believer should be about 50 : 1.

This might be extreme but what is your ratio? 1 : 50? 1 : 20?

Perhaps 50:50 is the best ratio?

This is the commandment of Christ to his followers:

Love each other
(John 15:17).


This is one of the most important perhaps the central theme in the New Testament.
This commandment is impossible to fulfill for non-believers.
This commandment is impossible to fulfill for those that do not have fellowship with believers.
This commandment is not something you fulfill once a month at church. This commandment is to be lived out fully for the rest of your life on earth.


The books of the bible speak as one:

John 13:34
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

John 15:12
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

John 15:17
This is my command: Love each other.

Rom 12:10
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

2 Cor 8:24
Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.

Gal 5:13
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature ; rather, serve one another in love.

Eph 4:2
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Eph 4:16
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Phil 2:2
then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

1 Thes 3:12
May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.

1 Thes 4:9
Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.

1 Pet 1:22
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.

1 Pet 2:17
Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

1 Peter 3:8
Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.

1 Peter 4:8
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

1 Pet 5:14
Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

2 Pet 1:7
and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

1 John 2:10
Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.

1 John 3:10
This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

1 John 3:11
This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 3:14
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.

1 John 3:16
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

1 John 3:23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

1 John 4:7
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

1 John 4:11
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:21
And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

2 John 1:5
And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.

(All passages from NIV)

Posted by Jot.. at 4:09 pm | Permalink | Comments