“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).
TEXT — John 13:34-38
Message
By experience, wherever there are genuine products, there are bound to be counterfeits. These counterfeits tend to appear genuine to the eyes of the undiscerning. This is because they take so much resemblance to the original and genuine. The major difference, however, is that they are of low quality and standard and may not function effectively as the original. Counterfeit products cause a lot of damage. They cause heavy financial loss to manufacturers of original products and a lot of harm and loss to end-users.
As Jesus addressed His disciples in the Bible passage for today preparatory to His departure from them, He commands them to love one another genuinely. Love, according to Him is the proof that will identify them as His disciples and attract others to their fold. It is what will mark them out as being genuine and not fake.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to find true Christians whose lifestyles match their claims. Expectedly, the world is getting more confused about what Christianity is all about because of the apparent contradictions they observe in the lives of so many professing believers because the true proof of the Christian faith is absent.
This does not take away from the fact that there are so many genuine Christians around. One piece of evidence that marks them out that Christ spoke about in the text is pure, fervent, selfless and enduring love. Where this is operational, there will be an absence of envy, vainglory, slandering, backbiting, backstabbing, immorality, cheating, hatred, etc. This kind of love will authenticate the gospel and fuel the spread of God’s word.
Thought for the day
Love is one Christian dialect that the world wants to understand.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
