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| Unconditional Love |
Jesus said to his disciples: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love.
"I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another."
"I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another."
love one another
Lord,
I was shocked when FA told me I didn't love others. I was shocked because I thought I did so much for others that I was very loving. But of course, I mislead myself. I made judgments, held grudges, remembered every way someone had sinned against me and I weighed it along with their words and actions to decide if I should trust or believe them. I wanted to show I was right. I wanted their understanding. I was self centered. I was self righteous. I held on to the letter of the law without discerning the spirit of the law. I always looked for a loophole or a back door for my escape. I know there are plenty other ways I have not loved.
Lord, Every single one of those things take a lot of work to overcome and I have tried, but I often fail, very often. That is a long list of 'wrongs' that I really struggle with. It takes constant awareness to keep from going back to the way I was with no care for those actions and for committing them without batting an eye.
How do I love like you love or at lease the way you want me to love? Lord, I ask for the grace to do this because I love you and I want to please you and I know that I cannot love you fully unless I love them fully.
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