| The Power of Jesus’ Command |
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The Power of Jesus’ Command
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
John 13:34
You cannot command an emotion out of anyone, but you can command an action. When Jesus says, “I command you to love one another,” he’s not saying, “Feel this way”; he’s saying, “Act this way.” If you’ve fallen out of love or stopped loving altogether, the first step is to begin to act with love again. Remember which actions of love were once part of your relationship with your husband or wife or kids or friend? Act in that way again.
When faced with the challenge to act with love, no matter how we may feel, there is something in us that rebels. We think, “I don’t feel right about that. I’d be such a phoney to act with love toward someone when I don’t feel love. It’s not real if I don’t feel like it. I’d be a hypocrite.”
Yet we do things all the time that we don’t feel like doing. If you woke up this morning and didn’t feel like going to work, you wouldn’t call and say, “I don’t feel like being at work today, so I’m not coming. It would be very hypocritical for me to come to work this morning.” No, you go in anyway – well, most of the time anyway. If we did what we felt like doing, not much would ever get done.
Do you think Jesus felt like dying on the cross? Of course not. Jesus didn’t face that morning thinking, “I feel like going to the cross today. I feel like experiencing the most excruciating pain, the most anguished disgrace, the most wrenching burden of mankind’s sin.” In fact the night before his death, he prayed in Gethsemane, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.” In Jesus’ prayer we see that he didn’t follow his feelings. Instead, he prayed, “Yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).
I would call this kind of love “nevertheless love.” Learn to pray as Jesus prayed – honestly telling God how your feeling, and then saying, “Nevertheless not my will, but yours.” This kind of love can only come from God. There are moments when not a single fibre in your being feels loving, and yet you act with love anyway. When your husband or wife has betrayed your trust and yet you love them anyway. That’s nevertheless love. When your child has done the stupidest thing in human history – for the third week in a row – and yet you love them anyway, that’s nevertheless love. When everything in you says, “Run away,” or “Yell in anger,” and yet you stay and talk, that’s nevertheless love. That’s acting with love. When Jesus was nailed to the cross and yet he looked at those who were crucifying him and said, “Father, forgive them,” that was acting with love.
Are feelings part of the package of love? Of course – a sometimes wonderful, sometimes woeful part! But feelings don’t get the deciding vote on how you will choose to act. Feelings tend to follow actions – sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. When you begin to act with love again out of an obedient heart, feelings eventually follow.
This teaching is taken from the new 40 Days of Love. Join the 40 Days of Love nation wide campaign kick-off on 14 February 2010. Unearth the core of Jesus’ ministry in how we show love to the people God has placed in our lives here on earth. How can we communicate more like Jesus? How do we love our creator, our neighbours, and ourselves? Let’s discover together a love that is patient, kind, forgiving, unselfish and always speaks the truth, all during this six-week journey into the very heart of the matter.
If your church would like to be part of this nation wide campaign, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call us on 011 782 4222. |