September 29, 2024 - INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE HEART

By PS La Guardia

John 13:34-35 (ESV)  

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” 

The indelible mark of the true followers of Jesus is their love for one another. 

His love spurs us to love one another. (John 13:34) “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Jesus’ love led him to lay down his life for us, this is the new kind of love (new commandment) He commands us to imitate.” 1 John 3:16 (ESV)  “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” 

To love one another is an evidence of our obedience. (John 13:35) “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  

Lovelessness among believers nullifies their witness to the world, and reveals them as hypocrites.  

Colin G. Kruse, John: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 4, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 287–289.