Matthew 18:19-20
Love Takes Two or More
19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
John 13:31-35
New Command to Love One Another
31When he was gone, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. 32If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
33"My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Matthew 22:34-40
The Greatest Commandment and the Second Greatest Commandment
34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Hebrews 13:1-6
Love Never Leaves or Forsakes
1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
6 So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”
John 14:23-29
Jesus Promises to Send the Holy Spirit
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.
Where two or three gather in Jesus name, there He is and will be with them...So where two or more are gathered in Jesus' Name, there is LOVE, because God is LOVE...
The kind of Love God gives and Jesus showed is a Love that never leaves...Jesus is not about being alone, or having us stay and be alone...He believes, before He died on the cross, that it would not be good that His disciples (or us be alone)...We need Him in us, to carry on find the Truth in Him, and help us love others and have fellowship with others...He told His disciples that He would come back to them...He did this after His resurrection and was with them and appeared to them -off and on for a period of forty days (Acts 1:3)...
His Love is also a Love that never forsakes...Forsake can be defined as to renounce or give up...Jesus promised His help for us, when He told His disciples He would send the Holy Spirit, an Advocate that would be with them, so they would not be as orphans...The Holy Spirit would be in them and with them giving them His peace, which is different from this world's peace...The Holy Spirit He was going to send would guide them...The Holy Spirit would guide them to the Truth...They would not be alone...They would have the Holy Spirit as a Helper...The Holy Spirit would help us find and keep His Love in us...Soon on the cross Jesus would be completely alone...He knew how this would feel, and He experienced human loneliness, when those around Him left Him...
There is a reason for everything Jesus does...He gave us His New Command so that we will love one another...He gives us the Two Greatest Commandments, so we will love God and we will love our neighbors...It is not enough just to love ourselves, He wants us to love both God and others..Through all of these things, Jesus knows the importance of togetherness....
Where two or more are gathered in His Name, He is there and He is with them...After you read the above verses, you find the importance of fellowship with people, and fellowship with believers...There is a togetherness in what Jesus taught...And I find it hard to explain, but I see it in families and their friends...But why do families love one another?...I think Jesus wants not only family and friends to be together, He wants us all to be together...But we have lost our way...For those who believe in Jesus, I think, many believe that if there were only one person on earth, Christianity would be very difficult...Yes, one might have his faith and the Holy Spirit...But then the love of neighbor is lost and gone -the Second Greatest Commandment of the Old Testament is lost and gone...Christianity is about sharing and loving others...It is not about self...Love cannot be shared if there was only you left on the planet...Followers of Jesus do not believe in selfishness...So with one person, alone on earth, survival of self would become paramount...You alone would be thinking about yourself, quite often, if not all the time...I also think these verses show the importance of being together with believers...Maybe, these verses are about encouragement...Life maybe as simple as encouraging our neighbors (while continuing to love them) to realize the importance of the Son of God...
When I hear, on the news regularly, the term global world I think of Jesus...What ties man together in this global world?...It is the Son of the Blessed One...He alone sends out His Holy Spirit and Love invitation to those living around the world to Love One Another...When we can somehow learn to do this, we will then live in a global world that is bound together only by Him...And that is the way it should be...