Read: John 15:1-14
Love one another as I have loved you. (v. 12)
When people puzzle over the mysteries of life, one of the deepest is the question of why anything exists at all. Why is there something rather than nothing? The Bible’s one-word answer to that question is love. God’s love is the power that called the universe into being. God’s love is the reason you and I were created, and why we’re still alive to draw breath at this very moment. Love is the very nature of God, and he wants it to be the nature of people as well. Love is the supreme mark of an authentic human life.
The words Jesus spoke to his disciples in the upper room on the last night of his life constitute a sort of last will and testament for the family of his followers. His central instruction was short and simple: “Love one another as I have loved you.”
One of the things the Bible makes perfectly clear is that Christlike love is the only true measure of a successful life. All other gifts and abilities are negated, every other form of success is rendered null and void, where love is lacking. As the great theologian Karl Barth observed, all of your life’s accomplishments, without love, are like a string of zeroes without a positive number in front: however long the list, it still adds up to nothing.
So what does real love look like? It looks like Jesus, of course. —David Bast
As you pray, ask God to help you love more like him every day.
About the Author
Rev. Dave Bast retired as the President and Broadcast Minister of Words of Hope in January 2017, after 23 years with the ministry. Prior to his ministry and work at Words of Hope, Dave served as a pastor for 18 years in congregations in the Reformed Church in America. He is the author of several devotional books. A graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, he has also studied at both the Fuller and Calvin seminaries. Dave and his wife, Betty Jo, have four children and four grandchildren. Dave enjoys reading, growing tomatoes, and avidly follows the Detroit Tigers.
