LOVING MORE IN THE NEW YEAR
As the year opens before us like a clean page, the Spirit gently presses one holy ambition upon the heart of the believer—to love more. Not with the love that rises and falls with feeling, nor with the affection that is measured by return, but with the love that flows from God Himself.
Love is not merely an ornament of the Christian life; it is its very breath. Our Lord spoke plainly: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). The mark of progress in grace is not noise, nor knowledge alone, but a heart enlarged by divine love.
This love is learned only by abiding. We cannot manufacture it by effort, nor sustain it by resolve. Love grows where Christ reigns without rival. The apostle reminds us of the poverty of every gift divorced from love: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1). In the secret place, as the soul waits quietly before God, the Holy Spirit sheds abroad the love of Christ—softening harsh judgments, silencing impatience, and teaching the heart to bear and forgive as it has been forgiven.
The new year will bring familiar faces and unforeseen trials; both are sacred classrooms of love. God does not ask us to love in our own strength, but to receive His love afresh each day and let it pass through us unhindered. The Word of God sets the order clearly and forever: “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). The more deeply the soul is convinced of being loved by God, the more freely it will love others—without calculation, without fear, without reserve.
Let this year be one of holy surrender, where self is dethroned and love is enthroned. Ask not how much you must do, but how fully Christ may live in you. Where He is allowed to love through the believer, ordinary days become divine, and common interactions are touched with eternity. To love more is not an addition to the Christian life; it is the quiet evidence that Christ Himself is living and reigning within.
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Lord Jesus, teach me to abide in Your love; empty me of self, and fill me with the love that comes from You alone, that this year my life may glorify God and bless others. Amen.
BDD
