A New Commandment Prayer

The New Commandment was given to us by Christ in John 13:34-35, where Christ said that just as He has loved us, we are to love one another. It is in how we love one another that the world will know that we are His disciples. So, when discussing the “new commandment,” we talk about Christ’s command to love. Loving other people is not limited to loving our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, though it is expected that we should, given that we are brothers and sisters in the faith. Our spiritual community. However, it also pertains to loving non-believers.

Father in heaven, give me the grace to always walk in love, to obey Your commandment to love others and be virtuous to them, and to reflect Christ to them by the way I love them. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

The Context of the New Commandment

When Christ said in the Gospel of John that He gives us a new commandment – to love one another – does that mean He was trying to abolish the commandments in the Old Testament—the Ten Commandments and the succeeding additions? Actually no. Why is that? In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus says that we are to love God and then love our neighbors, and we know those two laws depend on all of the Law and the Prophets. Jesus points out that loving God and loving others, the new commandment, is the greatest commandment that fulfills the Law and the Prophets. In other words, Jesus was not trying to abolish the Law and give a new one; He was merely summarizing the essence of the commandments on which the Law and the Prophets depended—to love God and others.

Loving others will never be possible unless we love God. The love that we give to others comes from the overflow of our love for God. We love other people because we love God. Also, we love God because He loved us first (1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.). That is why in 1 John 4:7 it is written that we are to love one another because love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. From there, we love other people. But why does loving God result in the second commandment, which is to love people and on which the Law and the Prophets depend? It is because all of the commandments, laws, and statutes in the Old Testament, as carried by the Jews until the New Testament, can still be summarized in one word—love.

 

If we love God, we won’t worship other Gods, dishonor God’s name, be apathetic toward Him, or dishonor the Sabbath. Likewise, if we love our neighbors, we don’t covet their spouse, we don’t steal from them, we don’t commit murder, etc. That is why “love” is the ultimate commandment in which all laws are fulfilled. That is why in Romans 13:8-10 the apostle Paul repeats the old commandments and says that love does no wrong to one’s neighbor and that love is fulfilling the Law.

When we love, obeying the old laws comes along with it.

An “Agape” Kind of Love

The love the Bible calls us to have is called an “agape” kind of love. It means a sacrificial love that seeks the well-being of others. You always seek that which is for the good of others, even if they don’t deserve it and even at your cost. It is a kind of love that is just given, and nothing is expected in return. That is why agape love persists even if someone is spiteful or unlovable. The best interest and well-being of others is always sought after. Loving with an agape kind of love means dying to ourselves and placing others before us. That is why in John 15:13 it is written that greater love is none other than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

It is also the kind of love that Christ has shown us. While we were still sinners – people who are enemies of God and love sin – Christ died for us (Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.). Christ sought our eternal well-being by living the sinless life that we should have lived, dying the death we should have died, paying for our sins, and offering the gift of salvation to those who believe and repent, even at the cost of His suffering and life. He didn’t have to come down from heaven and do that, yet He did because He loves us. God’s love always comes along with His grace and mercy toward us.

As we love others with an agape love, may our motivation always come from the Gospel of Christ, which displays God’s love, mercy, and grace toward us. As we are consumed by God’s love through the Gospel, it also causes us to love others.

Praying to Always Follow the New Commandment

Trying to always obey the new commandment, which is to love others, always starts with praying to God for Him to open our eyes and comprehend His love for us (Ephesians 3:17-19). As we understand more of the depth, breadth, and magnitude of His love for us in Christ, this causes our hearts to love God. As we become overflowing with God’s love for us in Christ, we then, in turn, love other people as well.

Besides praying for God to make us understand more of His love for us in Christ, we also pray to God for the grace to love others. Especially when it comes to our enemies or those we find difficult to love, we need strength, grace, and empowerment from the Holy Spirit to enable us to love them even if it is extremely difficult. Such is the call of the Christian life—to die to ourselves and love others with an agape love. On our own strength, it is difficult. But we can love others, no matter how difficult that is, through Christ Who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).

Father in heaven, open my eyes so that I may behold the wondrous love that You have for me in Christ. Make known to me the magnitude of Your love for me. May the love that I have for You be evident by the way I treat others, even difficult people. Give me the grace and strength to do this through Christ Who strengthens me. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

As we walk in love, we aim to reflect Christ to other people (Ephesians 5:2). Love ought to be the motivation for everything we do. Even if we were to give up all of our possessions for others, or even die for them, yet had no love, the apostle Paul says that we do it all for nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).