Loving Those Who Have Failed

“A love for those who are worthy and who come up to our standards is not the thing which Jesus refers to in John 13:34 as characterizing the Christian community and distinguishing it from other social groups.

 It is agape, the love which stoops to others as Christ stooped to us at the cross, which is to be the expression and mark of the disciple community … it is when the love which we express begins to stoop; when we really begin to love those who are unworthy, those who have failed, those who reject our standards, those to whom we are not naturally attracted, it is then that the non-Christian begins to take notice.”

Bruce Milne, We Belong Together—The Meaning of Fellowship