Love- The Commandment

Christmas is fast approaching. We are getting ready to celebrate the birth of the Messiah, our saviour. Let’s take our time for a moment to just imagine the day before Jesus was born into this earth, or what we will now mark as Christmas Eve. We will normally wrap gifts, get last minute shopping done and deliver our final gifts and cards and maybe go to church. Have you ever thought what heaven was like on that day, what was actually going on in heaven the day before Jesus was born unto us?

Jesus got off his throne perhaps, put off his robe, crown, put aside his deity and entered a foetus. He wasn’t going to another palace; he was going into a womb. This is an ultimate expression of God’s love for us that He will give up his throne to come to somewhere in no way comparative to what he was used to. This is the greatest form of love

Why is it so easy for God to Love us so much?

Because we were created in His image and so when God sees us He sees Himself. God still sees Himself in us, and even though we changed our image never changed. The devil came to tempt the woman and man, to change their perception of themselves, but did not change their image (Gen3:1-7). And so now and forevermore, even if we realise it or not our image will still be that of God. He will always love us because in us, there is Him.

If we are the image of God, we have to love god because when we see ourselves we must see God and so also when we see others we must see God. All we need to survive and live a perfect life is love God, which may mean everything from loving others to surrendering ourselves to God. In the Old Testament God introduced so many rules to help us love Him and in turn one another but Human beings found it so hard and just couldn’t stop ourselves from breaking these rules. Jesus came to simplify it in the New Testament and told us what to do:

 Mark 12:28-31- Love commandments.

We have assumed love to be an emotion when in actual fact love is a commandment. We pick and choose who we can love, why we want to love and who deserves our love even to the extent that sometimes God doesn’t even make the cut. But loving everybody is not a choice we get to make; loving people because they love you does not count. Luke6:32-33. That is love ruled by emotions, loving those who have done you wrong is keeping to the commandment.

If God could still love Humans even after all they have done enough to send His son, why can’t we love those who have wronged us.

How does God love everybody the same, righteous or unrighteous, holy or sinful? Because God sees Himself in every man.

How do you love your enemy? 

By seeing them by not what they are doing but by whom they are. The prostitute was brought to the presence of Jesus to be stoned; He did not condemn her for what she had but gave her a chance because he saw her image: the image of God.  

When Jesus was being crucified, he said: “Father forgive them for they do not know what they do”, perhaps if they had known who He was by image, they would not have killed him, if they had seen past their hatred and seen that He was created in the image of God they would have spared His life.

In the church today, we have created a sect and we only find it easier to love just Christians. We judge others for what they do and we do not want to associate with unbelievers. We should start loving them because it is a commandment from God. Until then you do not even love yourself because you are playing with the wrath of God. If He could love you even in sin you can love everybody.

Love is not a feeling, it is a commandment, a verb and a state because you still have to do it even when you don’t feel like it.