In John 15, Jesus told us to love one another and by this, the world will know that we are His disciples.  In Matthew 22 Jesus summed up the whole of our existence.  We are to love God (v.37) and love others (v.39).  For followers of Jesus, the Ultimate Priority is to love God with everything we’ve got.  The next highest priority is to love others the way that we would want to be loved.  That’s it, nothing else matters without these two priorities being reflected in our lives (1Corinthians 13:1-3).  The truth is that verse 39 is impossible to fulfill as a sustainable way of life if we are not faithful to verse 37.  Verse 39 is the fruit of verse 37 which means that our entire life should reflect our love for God.  Communion with God is our source for love, our source for compassion, our source for joy, our source for peace, our source for patience and our source for wisdom.  Without time with God, how can we rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep?  How can we be a source of hope for the hopeless, share peace with the distressed, or stand firm in the storm with those being rained on?

Loving people can be a tough challenge at times.  One of the things that I have noticed is that there is a direct correlation between spending time with God and how we love others.  My ability and desire to love and care for people is contingent on the presence of God in my life.  Jesus said that all people are able to show natural affection to those they love (Matthew 7:11), so He gave us the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12) so that we can show love towards all people as Jesus did (John 3:16) without regard for anything other than God.  It is not my ability or natural desire to love others at the same level as I love myself.  We may be able to do it intermittently, but we do not have it within ourselves to love sacrificially hour after hour, day after day.  However, if we are to walk by the Spirit, we then have the resources, the strength and the ability to fulfill the command to love others.

In Galatians 5, Paul tells us that if we are saved (v.24), we should walk by the Spirit.  That is to say that as we spend time with God and mature spiritually, we habitually develop a lifestyle that reflects godly character (v.23-24).  This is a process that is cultivated over time (Galatians 6:9) by being in continuous communion with God (Galatians 6:8), by which, if we are discipline to persevere in this process (v.9), we will have the Spiritual affection to love and serve all people on a consistent basis, both believers and non-believers (Galatians 6:10).  As we are admonished to bear one anothers burdens  (Galatians 6:2), it is only possible if we have the fruit of the Spirit in our lives which is love, joy, peace, patience, KINDNESS, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

In John 15, Jesus confirms that we can only be fruitful by communion with Him (v.5).  This is not something that we can do on our own (v.4), this is something that is done through us by God as we abide in His word, in prayer, in constant communion.  This is not an appeal to moralism and is not something that can be faked (Galatians 6:7), but rather by abiding in Christ we see the sanctifying process of becoming holy and is proof of a genuine disciple (John 15:8).  Both Jesus (John15:2;6) and Paul (Galatians 5:16-21) contrast a fruitful life with non-fruitful life of the non-believer who will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

“I am the Vine and you are the branches, he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5

Communion with God makes the fruitful life possible and it is the reason we are here!  If you are not spending time with God, reading His word, praying, listening, journaling, worshipping, then you will not have the ability, the endurance, the wisdom or the desire to do the things that have eternal value.  We have an incredible privilege as vessels of mercy (Romans 9:23) to share in the gospel as salt and light to a dying world.  If we are neglecting our relationship with God, we won’t be able to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44), count it joy when we face trials (James 1:2), be at peace with all men (Romans 12:18), show patience in discipleship (2Timothy 4:2), show kindness to strangers (Hebrews 13:2), admonish or provide counseling in goodness (Romans 15:4), cultivate faithfulness (Psalm 37:3), defend the Gospel and share our testimonies with gentleness (1Peter 3:15; 2Timonthy 2:25) and exercise self-control so that we are not disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).  Spending time with God effects every area of our lives!  If you are not having that time daily, I would encourage you to make God a priority over whomever is getting your time.  Work, school, ministry, family friends, lovers, hobbies, entertainment, TV, books, whatever it is, I would just encourage you to set-it aside.  God loves you and wants that time with you and He will prune things from your life that are taking you away from Him.

Below I am sharing a song about the faith, hope and love that transcends this world and our circumstances. This song is very personal to me and I love it because it always brings me a place of deep reflection in regards to the Tapestry of people God has brought into my life, held together with purpose by our Savior.  I hope it is a blessing to you as well!

“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” – Jesus