Love. Period. It’s His Consistent Command

December 12, 2018·Carmen Quevedo

In Scripture, you’ll find it over and over again:

“Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).
“Love one another, as I have loved you” (John 13:34).
“Love each other” (I Thessalonians 4:9).

So, I was in familiar territory as my Pause Bible Reading Plan had me reading 2 John 5-6:

“I am not writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love.”

But honestly, for me, it was the word obedience that stood out.

Now, I grew up in a house where obedience was expected, without hesitation. It made it pretty simple, when our kids came around, to expect “first-time obedience.” That’s great when you’re teaching kids important principles of life, the kind that keep them safe from harm. But do you ever find yourself somehow making excuses for why you aren’t obedient to what the Lord is telling you? What about something as simple as walking in love with our fellow man? It struck me that it’s just too easy to not love people, and somehow justify it. Or even just ignore the fact that our actions on any given day were less than loving. We’ll give ourselves a pass because it’s been a long day, a long week, circumstances are unfair, or we’re just too busy to be loving to our fellow man.

Yet, this scripture hit me between the eyes, because it called me out as a disobedient child. Rather than knowing what is expected of me and doing it without question, how often do I not only fail to love someone around me, but I disobey my Father when I do it? Hear me, friends. This isn’t meant to be a guilt trip. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, every time. But we have to repent from that sin and change. And for me, sometimes, it’s a scripture that reminds me that loving the people around me is more than a good thing, it’s a God thing. It’s His consistent commandment.

Today, let’s be people who are obedient to walk in love. Period.