John 15:12

"This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you."
John 15:12


I'm sure we have all heard this, or a variation of it... the words that intrigue me here are "as I have loved you."  Rarely does God just say "love" ... he tells us how, because he knows that we are good at twisting things around.  I remember a line from a monologue I learned once for a drama class... "they love you so much their love is a gun, and they keep firing it straight into your head."  Sometimes we love people that way.  In my favorite book, Till We Have Faces, that is one of the lessons that the main character learns... that love isn't always what she thinks it is.  Sometimes we hurt people with what we think is love for them when actually it is a sort of twisted sense of ownership or need for affection... or something else.  So, God helps us out.  Instead of just saying "love" he says "as yourself" or "as I have loved you."  So that we think about it a little more.  When we love the way that God loves, then we stop demanding, and start offering.  We stop attacking and start assisting.  we stop expecting and start serving.  and, I’m definitely not an expert... I don't know if any of us are on this particular topic. :)  but it is interesting to think about... what things did Christ do in his life, and how does that teach us about love?  The woman taken in adultery... Lazarus... Mary Magdalene... John... His mother Mary (both when he asked John to take care of her, and when he sent her away while he was teaching)... feeding the people... teaching everyone... there are so many things that he did, not only in Jerusalem, but on the American continent too.  That "as I have loved you" could produce ideas about love the size of a doctoral dissertation, at least. :)  Let's think on it today. :)