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Bible Study Discussions with Gary Panell

Question: How do I love Jesus?

Answer: "Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me." (John 14:23-24)

If we are truly saved we want to do what God says for us to do in His word the Bible. We also don't want to do the things He says are sins. "Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen." (1 John 5:21) Anything that means more to us than God is an idol. It might be television watching, it might be our car, our wife, our children, our home, etc.

Jesus said, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. [Is He saying really that we should hate our parents, no, because we are to love, respect, and obey our parents as the rest of Scripture teaches. What He is saying is that we are to love Jesus so much that in comparison it seems like we hate our parents and others. Because we love Jesus so much more than anyone else!]

"And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:26-27) Here are some thoughts and words penned by Mother Teresa in her book Total Surrender: "As you know, we have our brothers who are also Missionaries of Charity. We are taking care of forty-nine thousand lepers in India. This brother really loves the lepers. He came one day after he had had some difficulties with his superior.

He said to me, 'I love the lepers; I want to be with them. I want to work for them. My vocation is to be with the lepers.' I said to him, 'Brother, you are making a mistake. Your vocation is not to work for the lepers. Your vocation is to belong to Jesus. The work for the lepers is only your love for Christ in action; and, therefore, it makes no difference to anyone as long as you are doing it to him, as long as you are doing it with him. That's all that matters. That is the completion of your vocation, of your belonging to Christ.'"

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

"for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?

"And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' (Matthew 25:31-40)

Some more thoughts from Mother Teresa in her book Total Surrender: "A sister was telling me that just two or three weeks ago she and some other sisters picked up a man from the streets in Bombay and brought him home. We had a big place donated to us which we have turned into a home for the dying. This man was brought there and the sisters took care of him. They loved him and treated him with dignity. Right away they discovered that the whole of his back had no skin, no flesh. It was all eaten up.

After they washed him they put him on his bed, and this sister told me that she had never seen so much joy as she saw on the face of that man. Then I asked her, 'What did you feel when you were removing those worms from his body; what did you feel?' And she looked at me and said, 'I've never felt the presence of Christ; I've never really believed the word of Jesus saying, 'I was sick and you did it to me.' but His presence was there and I could see it on that man's face.' This is the gift of God." (Total Surrender by Mother Teresa)

I believe this is what it means to love Jesus. He says through the Holy Spirit in St. James: "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." (James 1:26) Our church has started an orphanage in Rwanda. This is, I believe, how we love Jesus, by showing the love of Christ to them. "Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me." (Mark 9:37)

Jesus also said, "For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward." (Mark 9:41) "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." (John 13:34) This means to love our fellow Christians, even if they are in another denomination different from our own! "He who loves his brother abides in the light." (1 John 2:10a) "And now I plead with you, lady [The Church], not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another." (2 John 5)

One of the lawyers of Jesus time on the earth asked this question: "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.'" (Matthew 22:36-40)

Thanks for asking the question,

Gary T. Panell

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Keywords: discipleship, new christian, commandment, commandments