Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (1 John 2:7-11 ESV)
This is nothing new. It is actually something every Christian will agree about. Jesus told His disciples to “love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor as yourself.” John simply expands, or expounds this concept. We are to love our brothers and sisters, and if we do not then there is no light in us. So John says tha if we do not love then Jesus is not in us, because if He is not in us then we do not have any light light in us.
And we are called to love all of our brothers and sisters. That means the quirky ones and the ones we agree with. The ones we think are sinners and the ones we think are saints (and wwe are probably wrong on both of these accounts.)
We are to love the other regardless of how we feel about them. That is what Jesus did for you. Because if He had to wait for you to be in the right place and acting the right way and doing the right things to be with Him you would have never made it. And if you don’t shine His light, some may not see it. So love as He first loved you.
aSacredRebel 