12 “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:12-13

No greater love than this

The primary command that is given by Jesus to believers is this: LOVE EACH OTHER. This is repeated again John 15:17, not to mention the multitude of times it is mentioned in the Old and New Testament.Jesus's command here is particularly challenging. He states that we should love one another as he has loved us. Jesus Christ has loved us with the fiercest and the most consistent of loves. In fact Romans 5:8 states,

But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Christ's love for us compelled him to die on our behalf in order that we would be reconciled with God. It a love marked with this level of intensity and consistency that we are meant to love one another.Verse 13 confirms this,

"No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends."

First, what an amazing thing, the one true and living God refers to us as his friends. He is not only the transcendent God that sits outside of space, time, and matter but he is the immanent God who knows us, loves us and calls us his friends.Second, he is not only calling us friend, but he dies for us as savior. This is a radical, unconventional love.This sacrificial love is how we are called to love one another. What does this look like in your life? For me, it certainly means I can be more patient in the grocery store; it certainly means I can be willing to help my wife with a project; it certainly means I can be more generous with my finances; it certainly means I can serve the church in a way that blesses others.God has called us to love like Jesus. May he grant us the strength to live this out.