The One Thing to Focus On

The sun is illuminating the big, blue sky outside my office window. I have an icy glass of water on one side and my Bible on the other. Something good is bound to happen! I've asked Jesus to speak his words of life to me and he is, through the pages of John's gospel. He's given me just a short passage to focus on today: John 13:31-35. Five short verses. But I couldn't get beyond verses 34 and 35. So check it out!

I don't need to go any further that that right now. Nothing smothers spiritual growth more than what I call the what else mentality. Funny how we want to hurry right on by foundational, potentially life-changing statements like that one and see what else we can mine out of Scripture. But here it is: The Christian life in a nutshell. It's Theology 101. It's also Theology 201, 301, 401 all the way up to Th.D. It's fine and good to study and explore the finer points of doctrine, but until we get this one concept absolutely mastered we would do better to just get a laser focus on accomplishing that:

"Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  

If our knowledge of Scripture causes us to love other people less and drives wedges between us, then our theology has taken us the opposite direction from the heart of Christ. Healthy, Jesus-focused theology makes us more caring, more accepting, more humble, more willing to sacrifice our own desires for the good of others. It makes us bridge-builders instead of wall builders. It drives us to people, not away from them.

What does God want from me? He wants me to love him with all my heart and he wants me to love the people around me.
     the people down the street
     the people in that other church building
     the people in that other part of town
     the people with those annoying traits
     the people I don't yet understand
     the people that are "moving my cheese"
     the people that inconvenience me
     the people from that other political party
     the people in my own house
     even the people across the globe.

"Love one another. Love them with the same kind of all-out love I've shown for you. Lay down self in favor of relationships." There is no greater cornerstone of life than that. It's not confusing. It's not complicated. And it is so spiritually and emotionally liberating.

I think I'm just going to focus on that for a while until I get a whole lot better at it. It's a supernatural thing, you know. Only God can give me that love. But I've got to ask him for it, receive it and choose to live by it. What if everyone loved like this? Wow.

If you agree with Jesus that the world needs more love, why don't you share this post on your Facebook wall? Spread the love by clicking on the "f" icon below. Your own reflections on Jesus' words are wanted and welcome! Please sign in and then comment.