Email from Abiding Place Daily Bread – May 15, 2025 (The Fifth Day – Genesis 1:20-23) John 13:34-35 – I give to you a new commandment: that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall everyone know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another. Loving Just Like God Loves The Greek verb used here for “love” is ‘agapao’ – this usage associates ‘agapan’ with divine love. In the Gospel of John, the disciples are always commanded to love each other with ‘agapan’ love. The new commandment now demands men to love one another with the same love as the Father – divine love. In fact, love is more than a commandment, it is a gift given to those who are born of the Spirit. The “one another” the believers are to love is defined in 1 John 3:14 as “the brothers”, the family of God. In the Old Covenant, men were only required to love with the same kind of love which they loved themselves (Leviticus 19:18). The New Covenant has a new commandment: We are to love one another just like God has loved us. The life of God has been given to us, and the life of God is defined by the love of God (1 John 4:7-8). The Old Covenant only demanded what was within reach of human nature and the community of His covenant people – which was to love one’s neighbor as themselves (Leviticus 19:18; Mark 12:32-33). Today, with a change in nature and the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Ghost, we can love just like God loves. This love of God reveals to all men how we are the disciples of the Lord Jesus. This kind of love is the proof we are born of God (John 15:10-14; 1 John 2:6,9-11, 4:7-8,12,20-21). We know we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren with the pure, fervent, and unfailing love God has loved us with (1 John 3:14,23). Blessings, Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
Daily Bread 5/15/2025
