Love One Another – Stepping in the Light

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:34-35

Perhaps you have heard people say, “We’re supposed to love everybody,” or, “I love everyone.” These statements are virtually meaningless without a little bit of additional information. What do we mean when we use the word love, and who is everybody? By saying that we love people, we generally mean that we are willing to treat others as we wish to be treated. We are most willing to apply this level of care to people that we don’t know, as long as they are not doing anything particularly annoying at the moment.

Jesus gave us a rather specific set of instructions here and warned us that the whole world would be watching us to see how closely we would follow them. As Christians, Jesus has commanded us to love other Christians in the same way that He loved us. Jesus’ love for us went much further than kindness and deferential treatment. His love includes self-denial, personal sacrifice, and eternally gracious longsuffering. Our Lord desires that our love for one another as Christians to be our trademark. He wants people to recognize us as His followers by the way that we love each other. We have an opportunity to demonstrate our Christianity to a watching world if we are willing to love others as Christ loved us.

Morning: II Chronicles 19-20

Evening: John 13:21-38

About This Site

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105

If you were to find yourself walking down a path in the dark of night with only an old-fashioned lantern to light the way, you wouldn’t be able to see very far ahead. You would be able to see just enough of the pathway to know which direction to take your next step and enough of the ground to choose the best place for your feet. When it comes to our daily lives, God’s Word is a lot like that lantern. It will not show us the whole path at once, but it is exactly what we need to help us decide how to take the next step.

The Bible is our source of spiritual light, and if we consistently seek God’s direction as we read from its pages, we will always have enough light for our next step along the pathway of life. It is then that we are, in the words of an old gospel song, “stepping in the light.”

The goal of this devotional guide is to encourage you to spend time in the Word of God each day. Reading the passages listed at the bottom of the page will take you all the way through the Bible in one year. The devotional thought for each day is taken from a text within that day’s reading, so even that small daily portion of reading will take you on a journey through God’s Word. It is my prayer that this guide would help you to walk closer to the Lord and that you will find yourself taking each step in the light of His Word.