‘Let Brotherly Love Continue’ Hebrews 13:1

In John 13:34-35, Jesus laid down a new commandment for all – a commandment for love. It is actually a renewed commandment of the old. Love is an attitude that wins all the time. The boundless love of God is winning attitude. Reading through Matthew 22:36-50, we can see that the love that Jesus was speaking about has two sides as with a coin: loving God is equal to loving your brother.

The Old Testament love demands us to “love thy neighbours as thyself”. But when Jesus came, He improved on this by raising the standard. He renewed the commandment to say that we are to love our neighbours as He (Jesus) loves us. We are to love our brothers even more than ourselves.

To what extent should this love be? Let us look at what the Bible says: “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. “Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends” John 15:13. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” 1 John 3:16.

Do we love the brethren and our neighbours to the extent of laying down our lives for them? Yes! To lay down our lives for our brothers! That is the extent we are to love. God has the power, resources and grace to help us meet this standard.