A New Suggestion I Give you

(image curtesy of Pinterest)

I often marvel, and sometimes even write about the command of Jesus given to his disciples just prior to His arrest, mock trial and crucifixion: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35 NIV)

I have tried to get my head around the fact that Jesus was telling His followers to love as He loved. But, I say to myself, Jesus loved perfectly. I am not capable of coming close to that. As I do these mental gymnastics, I usually come back to the fact that Jesus knows I can’t. He is not expecting perfection from me; but I do believe He wants me to consciously be doing the best I can at all times.

With this somewhat settled, for now, in my mind, I move on to how I can show this love. Jesus has left this part quite open: Love one another. Once again as I examine my track record with this, I find myself behavior overly self-serving. Far too many times I have allowed my wants to interfere with me seeing to the needs of others. I must admit I have missed opportunities to simply love others because I have been too caught up in my own stuff of the moment.

I am ever so grateful for the faithfulness and patience of God. He continues to give me/us opportunities to showcase His love through our actions. Those of us who proclaim faith in Jesus Christ have a wonderful opportunity to act in genuine love now and in the coming months: Get the Covid-19 vaccination!

As many of you know, I work part-time at a halfway house for recovering drug addicts and alcoholics. Because I do, I am eligible to get the vaccine. I did so just yesterday as I received the first of the two shots.

This was not a decision I made lightly. I did some research. I wanted, as best I could, to understand the process of development and testing. I also considered the possible adverse reactions that might happen. I concluded that I could trust the science that has gone into this. And I remembered to thank God for making this available.

Hence, Dear Cherished Reader, my suggestion to you is this: When it becomes available to you, please get vaccinated. It is a great way to display the love Jesus was talking about for our fellow humans. Jesus told His disciples then that people would recognize them as His followers by the way they loved people. His command (and my suggestion) is the same: Show others that you care enough about their well-being that you are willing to get vaccinated against this virus.

Thank you!

As always, thanks for reading, be blessed and be a blessing,

Pastor Chuck

BTW: I write this 24 hours after receiving the first shot with zero side effects, not even a sore arm.