Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.
John 13:1 NLT
“I tell you the truth, anyone who welcomes my messenger is welcoming me, and anyone who welcomes me is welcoming the Father who sent me.”
John 13:20 NLT
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
John 13:34-35 NLT
Jesus is the living proof of the Father’s love for us. He wouldn’t have sent His Beloved Son to save us if He didn’t love us.
Jesus loved his disciples. Disciples love one another. We are created in the image and likeness of God. Loving people is obeying God. Obeying God is loving God. Loving people is loving God.
There is one body. Prove to the world that you are His disciples by loving one another just as He loves.
Father, forgive us for being shortsighted. Forgive us for not recognizing that You love everyone equally. Forgive us for not loving our neighbors as ourselves. Forgive us for not loving our fellow believers like You do. Help us, O God, to lay aside worldly distinctions and rightly discern the Body of Christ, the living proof of Your love. Amen.
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.
1 John 4:7-8, 20-21 NLT
Igniter Ministries 