Loving One Another

15. May 2009 by Annette Colon-Alvarenga.

I’ve just got done reading a book I received in the mail today, “The Furious Longing of God” by Brennan Manning, my favorite author. Brennan Manning writes the kind of book that once you start reading, you just can’t put it down. He has an incredible way of describing the depth, width and height of God’s unconditional love for us that you just can’t get enough.

One question in the book brought great conviction to me this night: “Are we responding to the love of Jesus living within us concretely and consistently in our love for one another?” (Emphasis added.) Reading this I immediately began to feel uneasy and wondered if it was time to put the book down. The truth of the matter is that I personally have not been living out Jesus’ command to “love one another.” Sure I “love” others, but only those I choose to love; you know, family and a very few selected friends (those I can put up with and that put up with me). But I know that is not what Jesus meant in his command.

We Latinos have this catchy phrase (cliché) we put at the end of our emails/letters/cards: “Te amo en el amor de Cristo.” Translated it means: “I love you in the love of Christ.” What does that even mean and do we really mean it? Jesus tells his disciples in John 15:12 “Love one another as I have loved you.” And how did Jesus love? By giving completely of himself for all; sacrificing his life for all; touching the leper; talking to the prostitute and the Samaritan woman (adulteress) at the well; eating with sinners, washing the feet of His disciples, etc. You get the picture, right?

I am kind and even generous at times with others. But that’s not what Jesus commanded. Jesus commands me to love and to do so unconditionally and without reservation. That’s a tough order to fill. I told a friend of mine that I didn’t want to open a cell group (study group) because I didn’t want to have to be committed to a group of women. I was at one point going to open up my home and invite the women in my building over but after getting to know them a little better, I had a change of heart. Yikes! Not exactly Christ-like.

Jesus said, “34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35. This is how others will know that we are authentic disciples’ of Christ, the children of God. Our Christ-likeness is not going to be measured by the size of the church we attend, the success of our businesses, the amount of money in our bank accounts, the size of our house, the car we drive, how many times we read through the entire Bible, how long we spent in prayer each day or even the number of cell groups we have. Brennan says it clearly: the one that is truly closest to the heart of God will be the one who loves the most. “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Galatians 5:6. Yeah, major conviction.

It’s easy to make excuses for not doing what we’re called to do. I’ve become pretty good at it. We want to find that major purpose God has created us for, and we forget one of the most basic purposes of our creation, loving one another. There was one other question in the book that caught my attention: “If Jesus were to ask you, right now – what do you want? – what would you say? Seriously, what would your answer be?” To be completely honest, the thing that came immediately to mind (after completing the book) is to be able to love as Jesus loves. This would mean allowing myself to become dangerously vulnerable, a risk I am willing to take so that the “unconditional love of God” does not become a simple cliché in my life.

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