During the Last Supper, Jesus told His apostles to love one another:

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

This is a hard commandment. It is not only hard to love one another, but it is also hard to fully learn to love as Christ loved. He said, “As I have loved you.” How has He loved us?

Does Jesus love unconditionally? I would say yes and no. He loves the sinners, you and me, but He does not love the sins. Can He disapprove of our sins and still love us? Of course He can. He perfectly showed us how to love all sinners and tolerate no sin at all. This is a challenging thing to emulate, at least for me.

What about loving actions? I am a dad, and I have also been a teacher or coach in various settings. I will say that treating those you teach with love can be challenging. Real teaching pushes the pupil to be uncomfortable and do hard things, just like God expects of us.

But, God is also infinitely merciful and patient. He lovingly invites us back to Him. Sometimes His Spirit is offended by what we do and it takes time to recover from that. In the end, though, God is much more merciful to us than we could ever deserve.

So I invite you today to think about how you can love one another as Jesus did. Wrestle with this concept, and do your best. What is one action you can take today to try to love as Jesus loved.