Scripture: "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you, that, ye also love one another." — JOHN xiii. 34; xv. 12,
The Lord Jesus told His disciples that as the Father had loved Him, even so He loved them. And now, following His example, we must love one another, with the same love. "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John xiii. 35). He had prayed: "That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me" (John xvii. 21). If we exhibit the love that was in God towards Christ, and in Christ to us, the world will be obliged to confess that our Christianity is genuine and from above.
This is what actually happened. The Greeks and Romans, Jews and heathen, hated each other. Among all the nations of the world there was hardly a thought of love to each other. The very idea of self-sacrifice was a strange one. When the heathen saw that Christians from different nations, under the powerful workings of the Holy Spirit, became one, and loved one another, even to the point of self-sacrifice in time of plague or illness — they were amazed and said : "Behold how these people love one another !"
Amongst professing Christians there is a certain oneness of belief and feeling of brotherhood, but Christ's heavenly love is often lacking, and we do not bear one another's burdens, or love others heartily.
Pray that you may love your fellow-believers with the same love with which Christ loved you. If we abide in Christ's love, and let that love fill our hearts, supernatural power will be given us to take all God's children unto our hearts in love. As close as is the bond of love between the Father and the Son, between Christ and His followers, so close must the bond of love be between all God's children.
