There are two readings for today.

SCRIPTURE: 1 John 2
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. [1 John 2:7-8]
The command to love is not new, it goes back to the old testament, and is found in other religions as well – it seems to be rooted in our DNA.
And yet we need to be reminded, because though we sense it’s importance, we do not live according to it.
Jesus adds something new, and makes the command new.
What is new is that ‘it’s truth is seen in Him and in you’ [1 John 2:8].
For the first time in history, we see it happening, we see someone living according to what we know is important, but do not practice.
Jesus is the key to making this command new – He makes it possible!

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. [John 13:34-35]
Jesus repeats the new command, but adds the new dimension – the fact that it is now possible to live this way – by connecting it to being His disciple.
People will see the difference, they will sense the reality of divine love at work in us, and know that we are Jesus followers, because of this new love.
The difference between following Jesus or every other religion is that Jesus provides the anointing needed (the Holy Spirit) to make this love possible.
Without God’s Spirit, this love is impossible, a worthy but unreachable goal.

Love is a fruit of the Spirit, and if we open ourselves to Jesus and His Spirit, and make it our ambition to love and obey Him, then He will enable us to do so.
He will produce a supernatural love in us for God and people.
And people will notice, and observe that we are Jesus’ followers.
This is true, and yet do we aim for it?
We believe that through Jesus, by His Spirit, we would be able to love even our enemies – so why do so many not love like this?
Why is it that the church is not known for it’s supernatural love.
Has Jesus failed us, is His command as impossible as every other religion?
Or have we missed something, are we refusing to live and love as Jesus did?
This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. [1 John 2:5-6]

PRAYER:
Lord, if I am not living and loving like You, it is not because You have failed me. Somehow I am missing out on the new reality – Your Spirit. Help me to enter this new command, this new life, this new love!