A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." -- John 13: 34-35 (ESV)
The Bible is meant to be taken in its totality beloved. Not piecemeal and fragmented. The first rule of correct Bible interpretation is always context. That context starts with the individual verse and spreads out. The Bible is its own context. It is how you know that the arguments of pre-destination are false. The canon of Scripture does not present a God devoid of justice and there is no justice is a God who would consign a person to eternal suffering based on the whims of election. Please save the Calvinistic talking points because the individual context is contraindicated by the whole of Scripture. It is the same reason why Cessationism falls apart as a belief. God foresees all time. He knew full well the first Bibles would not be produced until after the agreement on Scripture, after the year 300. He also knew when He inspired Paul to write such detailed instructions regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit around 50 AD, that John would be dead just 50 years later. It makes zero sense that God would include all of the discussion of the gifts for a period of fifty years, when He knew the Bible was still hundreds of years away. Context matters and the entirety of Scripture is still contextual.
So we come to love. Perhaps the most abused and confused topic this side of tithing within the body of Christ. I have seen people wield love like a cudgel to silence correction or rebuke, both of which are legitimate reasons why God gave us His Word
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. -- 2Timothy 3: 16-17 (ESV)
This sloppy agape love is prevalent throughout false doctrines that are poisoning the body today. Before we get into the meat of this devotional it is important to lay some ground work from Scripture:
Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. -- Luke 15: 7 (ESV)
"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. -- Matthew 7: 13-14 (ESV)
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' - Matthew 7: 21-23 (ESV)
