one trait

John 13

34 So now I am giving you a new commandment:

Love each other.

Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."

Jesus said this to his disciples in the upper room that they used in which to observe the Passover.

This was the night before He died.

I doubt if He was speaking in a hyperbole – I think He was being pretty straightforward – time was short, He had a lot left to say to them.

So we're to love each other.

We're supposed to love each other like Jesus loves us.

And the quality of that love that we demonstrate will be the defining factor when people think of what a follower of Jesus is.

Is that what the world automatically thinks of when someone is described as a Christian?

Do they think, “well, if that person is a Christian, then they must be a pretty loving person.”

We all know the answer to that question.

And we all know why.

What does it mean to love someone?

Does it mean that we accept & condone everything about them?

I don't think so.

Do we have to embrace & legitimize all that they are & do?

Well, of course not.

Then what does it mean?

Maybe it means that we care about them & care for them.

Maybe it means that we learn to see them as Jesus does – flawed, sinful people that whose created identity is pretty amazing– an original identity was created by God.

Maybe it means we love & care about them the way we have needed to be loved & cared about.

Maybe it means that we've got the backs of the people we come in contact with.

Maybe it means we're there for those same people.

Maybe it means that we just care.

But one thing is for certain...

on the last night before He was killed,

during some of the last conversations Jesus has with the people closest to Him,

Jesus said there is one trait that the world would recognize in the people who say they follow Him,

and the one trait is that we love them.

I think we may need to make some adjustments in our priorities.

I think we may need to rethink who & what we supposed to be & do in this, the 2^nd half of the 2^nd decade of the 21^st century.