JUNE 9 – AS CHRIST LOVED US!

“And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us” (Ephesians 5:2).

Paul, the apostle, projects Jesus Christ as the model for love. Look up to Him who sacrificed Himself for your sake on the hills of Golgotha. He was beaten and thrashed, and every drop of blood that poured out from His body reveals that He is with love.

The sermons of a pastor were very strict in nature during his early days of the ministry. He used to command strictly what to do and what not to do. He will also pass judgments saying, “Woe to you, who commit sins.”

One day, God looked at him and asked, “Son, where do you have your podium? Have you placed it on Mount Sinai or the Calvary Hill?” The pastor was puzzled. He asked God, “What do you say, my Lord? I condemn and make people realise their sins. I make them cry bitterly so that they do not change ways and go away. Am I not right?”

God said, “Son, what you do is the law of Mount Sinai. There, departed the thunders and lightning terrifically. It made people shiver. The people were given the severe Ten Commandments there. But the Calvary Hill is a hill of love. Here, my people are pulled with ropes of love. This is the hill where people are shown the remission of sins, compassion and mercy through love. So, show love and compassion to my people who come here broken heartedly with burdens and tears.”

When you stand on the Calvary Hill, you are bound to show love towards others as Christ had shown towards you. There are only two laws under the New Testament. The first law is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. The second is to love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophecy.

Paul, the apostle, says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (I Corinthians 13:1, 2). Dear children of God, keep walking in the path of love.

To meditate: “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5).