“This I command you: love one another.” Christians have heard about the command to love so often that its shock value has been lost. If you think about it you don’t love on command! We think of love is something you grow into or fall into or warm up to. That should tell us that what Jesus is talking about is not the warm and fuzzy thing we ordinarily describe as love. I suspect every parent can testify that sometimes they don’t feel very warm and fuzzy toward their beloved children! An American psychiatist, M. Scott Peck defined love in this way: “The will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.” Love is an action then, a product of will, not a feeling. We fulfill the command of Jesus when we act in ways that promote growth in compassion, forgiveness, generosity, fidelity, charity.
MAY122023
By Church Staff
