Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. — 1 John 2:7-11, ESV.
John reminds us of the new commandment Jesus left for us in John 13:34-35: “Love one another as I have loved you.” John is not writing a new command, but reminding the people of Christ’s fulfillment of the law by His display of love on our behalf, that while we were still sinners, He came and died. If we say we are of Him and we are in the Light but hate a fellow believer, we are in darkness, stumbling, and we don’t know where we are going as in a blinded state.
Light and dark can’t coexist. Love and hate can’t exist together. When the sun comes up, night is over. When Jesus ascends the throne of your life, hate bows down. If we have Jesus’ Spirit within us, then we will begin to see people as He sees. We will feel for them the compassion that He would feel. We will love them as Jesus loves them, and again, love and hate can’t coexist. We live in a world of jealousy and malice. Our age is filled with messages like “get yours before someone else does”, “he who is on top wins” and the list goes on. Love compels us to help others first and wait on the Lord for ours. Love compels us to be humble and lift our brothers up.
What is your and my own life speaking of us? Is love evident within us? Is it hidden and obscured? Is it out in front of you recklessly spilling on whomever? If a brother does us wrong, what is our response? Move forward men, loving our brothers with abandon. Walk in light, and let it shine as evidence of the changing grace of our Lord’s work within us.
Vance Durrance
