Bible Verse of the Day Saturday December 10th, 2022

2 John 1:5-6 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

The writer of 2 John is directing this letter to a person he addresses as the lady chosen by God (2 John 1:1). There is no clear evidence in this writing or any other New Testament writing to say what position this lady held in the Church. We also do not know what she was chosen by God for; she could have been the Pastor, the Pastor's wife, or numerous other callings of God in and for her local Church.

Love is characteristic and featured prominently in the writings of John. As an illustration, love, in its noun or verb structure, is found about twelve times in Luke's writings and more than forty times in John's. Every Christian that has laid pen to paper has a dominant message in their form or writing style. The Apostle John is no exclusion to this rule; He held Love for God and other people in high esteem in his presentations of the gospel message. In John's characterization of love, it is not an emotional attitude or reaction; it follows the commandments of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. The foundational basis of adhering to the truth of the Word of God is faith and trust in Christ Jesus as the Savior of the world, which is love (1 John 2:3-11). Jesus made it abundantly clear that if we love Him and if we call Him our friend, we will follow His teachings and keep His commandments (John 14:15; 15:14). If we were to boil these two commandments down to only one phrase, it would be unconditional love, for God, and all of humanity. Christ Jesus is the epitome of Love; He proved that in His substitutionary work on the Cross of Calvary on our behalf.

As faithful followers and believers in Christ Jesus, as one of His disciples, our surrender to Him is in stark parallel with our love for our fellow humans. True Christian Love does not strive for dominance over others; it always attempts to place others before oneself. Most of the significant differences in the Body of Christ come from a lack of Christian Love among the brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Husbands and wives sometimes do not tell their special someone how much they love them; it is crucial in any relationship to declare our love to our life partners. We sometimes take it for granted; then time goes on until one day, it will be too late to realize it. We should make it a point to express our love to everyone God places in our lives, not just in words but in actions.

We should demonstrate our love for Christ Jesus through service to Him and others and our faith and trust in Him. The two greatest commandments are and always will be to Love God with all of our heart, mind, body, spirit, and soul and love others above ourselves (Matthew 22:26-40).