John 13:34

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

Was “loving one another” really a “new” command from Jesus? Yes…and no. The Old Testament clearly teaches us to love our neighbors as ourselves (Lev. 19:18), but take a look at this verse again and you will see how Jesus raises the bar, thus creating a “new command.”

First, He moves His followers from loving their neighbor (a general love for all) to loving one another (a specific love for other believers). Then, He moves them from an earthly form of love to His form of love, and that’s the really challenging part. How did Jesus love His Disciples? He spent time with them, taught them, encouraged them, corrected them, showed incredible patience towards them, forgave them, served them, and eventually died for them. WOW!

If you want to know what a day in the life of your family should look like…take a look at a day in the life of Jesus’ earthly family. These men cared for one another and served one another. They learned together and failed together and did ministry together and followed their Master together. It wasn’t always pretty, though. There were times when they argued over who was the best disciple as well as times when they failed miserably, but their love of Jesus allowed them to overcome those challenges and move forward together. When Jesus was crucified, they scattered in fear…but later they came back together, and with Jesus’ help, they changed the world.

The Disciples were a pretty incredible group with the greatest leader the world has ever known. Our families can be just as incredible and loving and effective and…we have the same leader that the disciples had!

APPLICATION: Talk about the different ways Jesus showed His love for His disciples…and then come up with examples of how your family can do the same thing for one another!