Real Love – The Presidential Prayer Team

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. – John 13:35

Many say they believe the woes of Isaiah are playing out on the world’s stage today: “woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20). It is true, the definitions of life’s core values are up for grabs in contemporary society. Yet God still calls you to stand as a witness of His love to the world. But how will anyone recognize “real love” when everything is upside down?

While the forces of darkness counterfeit every beautiful quality of God, His love cannot be counterfeited, its distinct qualities stand up to all scrutiny. At the core of God’s love is something the devil cannot manufacture… self-sacrifice.

The prime example of Godly love is in Jesus Christ laying down His life, paying for the sin of all mankind. That kind of love is not fleshly, not natural, it is only seen as a gift of the Holy Spirit. Ironically, at the time of commitment to Christ, many people do not realize they are taking on that very mantle, identifying themselves with the purpose of laying down their lives in sacrificial love for others.

While it is unlikely that you will be called to give up your physical life for your fellow believers today, you WILL be given opportunities to lay down your pride, your comfort, your status, or your opinions to accommodate the needs of other followers. Take every opportunity to show the world real love by seeing to the needs of others in your life! Pray many will see this and believe in the Lord.

Today’s Verse: John 13:35

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: 1 John 3:11-16

¹¹For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. ¹²We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. ¹³Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. ¹⁵Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

¹⁶By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.