"Love one another..."

Today in church we talked about love, specifically John 13 and the verse, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love another." This is a verse that I have read and heard many times, but for some reason it hit me today, especially one phrase of those verses.

"...just as I have loved you."

Christ calls us to love one another as HE loves each of us. Not how I love, my wife loves, my friends love, etc, but how Christ loves us. Do we really know what this means? The obvious way he showed his love for us was when he went to the cross, but today I started thinking about this in other ways. I started to think about all the other ways throughout the Bible that he showed his love to others. He loved the lepers, prostitutes, the disciples that would deny and betray him, those that crucified him; to name a few.

I got to thinking about the people that cross my path each day...do I love them as Christ loves me? Do I take the time to love the "lepers" or "betrayers" that I come into contact with. Do I love the "outcasts" or do I ignore them and go on my way.

Unfortunately, for the number of times I do make the right choice and love them, I also choose to look the other way or avoid them just as many. It's time for all of us to love "...just as I have loved you." I've got some work to do, do you?