March 29

John 13: 31-38

From love one another to denial in just three short verses. There is a lot to
process in today’s text. First, Jesus draws His disciples back to how the world
will know they are His: by their love for one another. It really is that simple,
according to Jesus. To live like Jesus is to love like Jesus. I believe most of
us set out to live that way. I’ve observed in my own heart and in others, that
sometimes our self gets in the way of our love for others.

In other words, the desires of our flesh push aside our willingness to serve and
love sacrificially as Jesus modeled. We must continually remember Who He is
and what He’s done so that we keep His perspective of love and sacrifice front
and center.

We must also be on guard. Peter, very confident in His love for and devotion
to Jesus couldn’t comprehend Jesus’ prophecy that it would be him who
denied knowing the King (3x I might add!). He loved Jesus far too much to
do such a thing. It’s in those moments of self assurance we must be most
careful. Without noticing, we can move away from Christ centered
dependency and into self confident assurance in our own strength. In those
moments, let us draw back to the posture of sacrificial love and humility, and
thus guard our hearts from confidence in the flesh. Let us instead be confident
in the power of our King.

Describe what it feels like to be be loved by another (not romantic love, but
brotherly or agape love)? How does thinking about that make you feel? Can
you remember a time when you’ve felt loved in that way?

Whom do you know that needs that kind of love in their lives today? How
will you provide it to them? What obstacles of the flesh might be trying to
prevent you from that kind of love?