A New Commandment

To go along with the theme of our devotions this morning, it says in 1 John 2:7-11 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard.  (8)  Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.  (9)  Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.  (10)  Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.  (11)  But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

Two things can be learned from these verses.  The first is found in verses 9-11.  We need to be honest with God and confess our feelings of hatred for other people so that God can replace that hatred with His love.  It has been said that Hate is like acid in that it can damage the vessel in which it is stored as well as destroy the object on which it is poured.  It’s the equivalent of burning down your own house to get rid of a rat.

The second thing that we can learn from these verses is that the commandment to love is both old and new.  The old commandment said, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself in Leviticus  19:18.  However, the new commandment spoken by Jesus in John 15:12 says, This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.  There is certainly a big difference between loving others the way I love myself and loving others the way that Jesus loved me!