“Be In The Light Through Actions Of Love!”

“Be In The Light Through Actions Of Love!”
Love is a universal thing. All cultures know what love is, and that the opposite of love is hate/hatred. In the same way the biblical command to love is as old as the time of Moses.
In his letter John states (I Jn.2:7-11), “I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command, its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.”
John says it is old, but at the same time it is new. Indeed it is like “new wine in old wineskin!” So what is this new command? Jesus teaches that the most important commandment is to love the Lord your God with the entirety of your being; and that second most important is, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” His conclusion: “There is no commandment greater than these”(Mk.12:29-31). This second most important was not a new command. He drew from the old law which stated: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbour as yourself”(Lev.19:18).
What made it new was the definition he gave to it. In the story of the good Samaritan Jesus gave a new definition of the neighbour whom you should love as yourself. Your neighbour is not necessarily the person with whom you share a physical geographic boundary. A neighbour is the one who is there for you in your moment of greatest need(Lk.19:30-37).
Jesus makes this clearer when he says, “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”(Jn.13:34-35).
This new command is an illumination that has come to dispel darkness. Where love is present there is no hatred. Where there is hate there is darkness!
“In the Bible hatred and love as moral qualities are not primarily emotions, but attitudes expressed in actions.” See how we joyously sing and dance songs like, “We are walking in the light of God…”, “I have seen the light, the light of God…”, “We are the light of the world…” etc!
We sing in the same congregation, the same church, the same fellowships, yet some of us are suffering great humiliations, frustrations, near death experiences because some of us have decided that “we will show them!”
Holy Writ says, “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the dark. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light…But whoever hates his brother is in darkness and walks around in the darkness, he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him”(I Jn.2:7-11).
Dear friend, love and hate are seen through actions. Any hater is a murderer! True love is sacrificial. “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers”(I Jn.3:15-16).
Let genuine love lead, for love is the only bond to bind us in the brotherhood of mankind!
Weekend prayer: Holy Spirit help me to remain in the light through loving actions. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!
Babila Fochang.