2 John

Daily Devotional from 2 John--

Verse 6

And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

John defines love as living a life of obedience to God’s commandments.

Jesus summarized God’s greatest commandments in Matthew 22: 37-39 as loving God and loving neighbor. These are old commandments as spoken through Moses and the Prophets, but also new commandments as spoken by Jesus (John 13:34).

In the Old Testament loving God and neighbor was an obligation, done to receive a reward or to avoid judgment. In the New Testament, hearts of stone are converted to hearts of flesh and we love, not because we have to, but because we desire to. Darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining (1 John 2:8).

So let’s live in the light: loving God and neighbor out of gratitude because God first loved us!

Rick Bolesta