That you love one another...

 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 

John 13:34

And there you have it. The question is: Do we love one another? As Jesus said we must? 

When a brother or sister in Christ comes to mind, do you stop and pray for them? I mean, really pray, not just send a "Lord, remember them" upward and go on about your business. 

I do just that sometimes. That's not love. It's more like doing something to make us feel like we've done something, even though we haven't. 

Remember the story of the Good Samaritan? It's in Luke 10:29-37. You can read it here: Blue Letter Bible

Why do we not love one another? Maybe that's the question each of us needs to answer. 

You know, when Jesus said "As I have loved you, so you must love one another" He wasn't just making small talk He really meant it. He meant that we must love one another. We must care. We must make the effort; we must take the time; we must pray, we must give of ourselves and our goods and our hearts. 

To each other. 

That's what Jesus said.

Just pray for them

But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

(Luke 6:27-28)

Do you know what that means? It means that we must love those who are our enemies and that we must do good to those who will do anything they can to hurt us. It means that we are to bless those people and pray for them, if/when they become cruel to us.

There are other instances of this, like when Jesus said to turn the other cheek, when He said to go the extra mile, when He Himself stood silent and took punishment for Who He was. 

He didn't just give us idle words to contemplate. He meant every word He said. For real.

 If you as a Christian, don't think you have enemies, you better look again. In our present political and social environment, you have enemies, powerful ones. It can be hard to pray for them; that's not the issue. The issue is, will you follow Christ's command? Will you do as He said and pray for them?