“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 (NIV)

“Can you believe she said that to me?” I asked my husband. Someone from church had made a comment in passing that offended me. Over the past months, I had been trying to develop a friendship with this person. She hadn’t really reciprocated, and now her comment had me wanting to walk away entirely.

I was 100% ready to delete her from my contacts over a backhanded compliment that she probably didn’t mean.

Christian community isn’t easy, friend. Though we often idealize church and the relationships that come with it, we are all still human, equally as prone to carelessness as we are to taking offense.

Thankfully, Jesus saw this coming. At the Last Supper in John 13, He exhorted His disciples not to give up: “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).

Until Jesus returns, our love for fellow believers is the sign that the gospel is real. God could have written it in the clouds, right? But God didn’t do that. Instead, He called us, His Church, to show the world that new life in Christ changes everything and draws us together in redemptive fellowship.

Importantly, Jesus had just finished washing the disciples’ feet when He gave this new command. He washed the feet of Judas, who was hours away from selling Him out for 30 pieces of silver, and the feet of Peter, who would deny Him in a moment of weakness.

Serving one another as family members in the household of God (Ephesians 2:19) requires a posture of humility. Jesus set the bar for loving each other down here — on the floor, washing feet that have been walking all day (in Jesus’ case, walking through unpaved streets before there were sewer systems), serving people we already know are inevitably going to hurt us with their lack of sensitivity and their failure to return the favor.

Just like the Old Testament law bound the Israelites together as God’s chosen people, the new commandment that binds us together in Christ is love. Sometimes that looks like washing feet, even when the world tells us to pick up our righteous anger and fight back.

We continue to love each other unreasonably because that’s how people know we belong to Jesus, who died for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). In those moments when offense and bitterness tempt us to cut ties and throw punches, may we be people whose unconditional commitment to each other shows the transformative, sacrificial love of our Savior.

Lord, in my offense and frustration, grow in me the humility to keep washing feet. Remind me of Your grace every day so that I can offer it to others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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FOR DEEPER STUDY

Ephesians 2:19, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household …” (NIV).

Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (NIV).

Who are you tempted to give up on today? How can you love them the way Jesus loves you?

© 2024 by Whitney Lowe. All rights reserved.

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