Dave’s Monday Blast – July 14, 2025
Would you agree that there is almost nothing more stressful than a strained relationship? My wife and I have been walking through life with a younger couple for several months. They are both quick to show love and kindness to others but are challenged to do so with one another. Like all couples with busy jobs and more than a few children, they face difficult situations that tend to come and go, but the tensions that exist between them is like a dark cloud hovering overhead. Though they long to be free of these emotions, they struggle with not knowing how to remedy the situation. They know that answer is found in the Word but so does Satan and he works over time to divide, deceive, and destroy.
I am grateful that our Heavenly Father does not leave His children to struggle through life wrestling with this plague of relational conflicts. The Bible gives us the solution. Jesus told His disciples, “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you” (John 13:34). Yes…it sounds simple, and we REALLY desire to be obedient to this command, yet it is far from simple. But remember, if God gives us a command, He also provides whatever we need to obey it!
“In the context of John 13, the phrase “love one another” refers to relationships among believers in the church, but loving the way Jesus does benefits all our relationships by encouraging harmony, forgiveness, and peace (I just love those three words applied to marriages). Since the meaning of love has been diluted in our culture to include reactions to everything from God to chocolate, it is important that we understand the biblical definition.
Over the next couple of weeks I want to look at four aspects of Christlike love from InTouch Ministries. We are sharing these truths with this couple, prayerful that they can learn to love one another just like God loves both of them. INTENTIONAL men of God know that we will never reach the point of perfect love for others, but we can become better at it as we let the Spirit work in and through us. Loving like Christ loves us is a tall order, but we have a mighty God who is at work in us to make it possible.
