Scripture Reading: John 13:34
Jesus was about to leave His disciples. “Yet a little while I am with you.” He wanted them to stand together when he was gone. He knew, too, how great a danger there was that they would fall apart. His church which He had come to establish depended on these men. If they were not true and loyal to each other, His work would fail. So, with all earnestness, He pleaded with them to love one another. This would be their safeguard and the secret of their power after He had left them. Nothing but love would hold them together.
Jesus spoke of this last exhortation to them as a new commandment. Why new? Really it was new. There was an old commandment which ran, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” The new commandment is, “Love one another; as I have loved you.” Love is the distinct mark of discipleship. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Christians are to be known in the world, not by the creed they profess, nor by their church membership, but by their love for each other. Love puts a brand on them. Sometimes we hear of a church with strifes and quarrels among its members. What kind of witness is such a church giving to the world for its Master? “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” The church which has a right to call itself a church of Christ is one in which the members love one another as Christ loves them.
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