Read John 13:31–38
‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’ (vv34–35)
As children of God, knowing we are loved by Him makes all the difference in our day-to-day lives, service and walk with Him. A loved child is a secure child.
Yet God’s love is not something we are to simply cling onto for our own benefit, but rather is something to ‘pass on’.
Within our scripture reading today, having just washed the disciples’ feet, modelling what true love and service looks like, Jesus then says to the disciples, ‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another’ (v34).
Whenever we are commanded to do something in Scripture, it is because we do not naturally do it – in other words, we don’t have to be commanded to do things we naturally do.
Yet the command to love each other was not new, the disciples knew from the law and the prophets that they were to love their neighbour (Lev. 19:18).
However, Jesus, soon to demonstrate His supreme act of love at the cross, points His disciples to a new, purer, deeper, divine level of love: ‘love one another. As I have loved you’ (v34a).
The unquestionable, unconditional love Jesus has lavished on us (John 15:9), is to be ‘passed on’ to one another. The result? ‘Everyone will know that you are my disciples.’
A PRAYER TO MAKE:
‘Lord, thank You that You first loved us, and demonstrated what true love is, that we might love others too. Amen.’
AN ACTION TO TAKE:
Think about the love of God for you. How might you be able to ‘pass this on’ today?
SCRIPTURE TO CONSIDER:
Lev. 19:1–18; Deut. 10:12–22; Rom. 13:8–10; Gal. 5:13–26
