Are You Known?

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”                   John 13:34-35

Do you truly have the love of God in you?  This is the question I have been asking myself lately.  Do I understand the depth of this question?  I am not asking if God loves me because I know he does and I know that he continuously pours that love out upon me, but do I have that love in me?  If I do, then I would be showing it to others.  Am I? Are you?  You see in John 17:20-26 when Jesus is praying for us, yes us---the disciples of the future, he is saying that we will be one in Him and we will be known as his disciples by the love we show.  So I ask myself another question…am I known as a disciple of Jesus Christ by the love that I show?  I will admit that I am not always demonstrating that love.  Many times I let other people, situations, frustrations and ‘worldly things’ get in the way of showing that love, and that, my friend, is completely my fault!  I can’t blame any lack of love that I show on something other than myself.  Sometimes I wonder if I am really where God wants me to be---am I really following His will for my life? Does he want me to change jobs, does he want me to move, does he want me to take on something new and different?  I ask myself these questions and then I come upon this quote today that said, “Maybe God is not changing your situation because he is trying to change your heart” and I think maybe I am where God wants me physically, but not spiritually.  Sometimes it is in the hardest places in life that you learn to be the greatest follower of Christ.  Sometimes we need those hard places to polish off the dust in order to shine a little brighter.  It is in those places that we begin to find our place with God, that we learn to show the love that is like no other, that pure and genuine love that can only come from Jesus Christ.  It is those places, those moments that we are recognized as a true disciple of our Lord Jesus!

I pray that I am continuously reminded of the words of my Lord and Savior as he selflessly prayed for me when he was the one about to suffer.  With all that lie before him, with the crucifixion in sight, he thought of me and wanted me to know that love that God had so graciously shown him.  What a wonderful Father we have and what a pleasure it is to love and serve him. I pray that I love in such a way that I will be known as a disciple of Jesus Christ!