Agape love

Today's card reading is about love for one another. Jesus commanded us to love one another, but it is not the type of love that we are understanding it to be. The original word for "love" as written in Greek is "agapate", (agape), and it means sacrifice and obedience.

So how did Jesus love us? First he healed his followers and then he died for all. Not only that, he was tortured and then executed in a horrific way. Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another as he loved them, and after giving this commandment, Peter talked the talk, saying that he did, but Jesus knew the truth - that he would be renounce him. Still, Jesus still loved Peter, despite his dishonesty (John 13.37-8). So to live by this example is the real love that he was teaching about. 

"Dying to self" is to very root of the Christian's life; it means to abandon one's own desires to instead care about what God wants - which is to take care of one another. We are to help each other carry our burdens (Galatians 6.2), this is the will of God that we cannot seem to understand.

When we love one another as Jesus loves us, our path becomes straight and easy (Matthew 7.13). We have more energy, are more happy, and we become open to receiving the peace of Christ in its fullest, which is to be completely comfortable throughout our days and nights. Amen.