Do you struggle with your identity? Do you wonder who you are? Have you wrestled with how to let others know who you are? Have you convinced yourself whose you are? Do you know that you belong to someone?
We all wrestle with our identity as we grow up. Some of us continue to wrestle with our identity far into adulthood. I daresay some wrestle with it into old age. Not fully understanding who you are and whose you are is tough. It makes life much harder than it needs to be.
Life is difficult. We all face challenges and struggles. We all have times when we feel there is no way to go but up. Sometimes that is true. At other times it is not, it just feels that way. These difficult times are more difficult when we have no one to lean on, no one we can trust.
It is especially in difficult times we need a rock-solid person in our life. We have access to that person, if we will only reach out to Him. Jesus is our rock. He is trustworthy. He provides for and takes care of His disciples. How do we know if we are His disciples?
Jesus gave us a measuring stick by which we can determine if we are His disciples. He stated we are to love one another. It really is that simple. Yet, it is not so simple either. Loving one another requires us to forgive, demonstrate patience, show grace and mercy, demonstrating forbearance, and often giving up our own preferences and desires for someone else.
As we see in today’s passage, loving one another is not optional. It is a command from Jesus. It is one of only a handful of commands He gave us. In fact, it is one of two that Jesus said the law of God and the prophets are wrapped up in (Matthew 22:37-40).
The love Jesus mentions in this passage is not a fleeting emotional love. It is a convicted, deep love. It is what we often call unconditional love. This includes the ability to see people as Jesus sees them—a child of God. It includes caring for them on emotional and spiritual levels.
I pray we all follow Jesus’ command. I pray we decide to love one another. I pray each of us will commit to showing our love and proving we are His disciples. Love one another. Demonstrate your love openly. Follow Jesus’ command. Be a disciple of His.
John 13:34-35 “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.”
Marty Pressey 