The New Command: Love One Another
Month 10: Loving One Another · Bible Story
Today's Scripture
Read together: John 13:1-5,34-35
1 It was now just before the Passover Feast, and Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the very end. 2 The evening meal was underway, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had delivered all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was returning to God. 4 So He got up from the supper, laid aside His outer garments, and wrapped a towel around His waist. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel that was around Him. … 34 A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”
Memory Verse
“A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.”— John 13:34 (BSB)memorize this week
📖 Bible-in-a-Year (optional)
Today's reading: Nehemiah 11–13
Reading the whole Bible in a year — do this when you have extra time.The Heart of It
It was the night before the cross. Jesus knew exactly what was coming. And yet John tells us that "having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the very end" (). What did He do with His last quiet hours? He got up from supper. He wrapped a towel around His waist like a household servant. And He washed the dirty feet of His friends. He even washed the feet of the man who would betray Him. The King of glory knelt on the floor with a basin of water. This is the kind of love Jesus is about to ask of us.
Then He gave them something He called new. "A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another." People had been told to love their neighbors long before this (). What was new was the measure. It wasn't "love others as you love yourself." It was "love one another as I have loved you." That means loving sacrificially, all the way to a towel and a cross. And Jesus said this love would be the family badge of His people. "By this everyone will know that you are My disciples" (). In our home, love isn't an extra. It's the proof that we belong to Him.
Around the Table
Jesus washed His friends' dirty feet to show how much He loved them. He wants us to love each other too!
Let's do it: Do one kind thing for someone right now — a hug, a helping hand, or a "thank you."
Jesus said people would know we follow Him by how we love each other. That's our family badge.
Let's talk: What is one way our family can show love so others can see we belong to Jesus?
The "new" part of the command is the measure. We love one another as Jesus loved us, even when it costs us something.
Let's go deeper: Where is it hardest for you to love like Jesus? And what would the towel and the basin look like there?
💬 Conversation Starter
If you had only one evening left with the people you love most, what would you spend it doing? Jesus spent His serving others.
🛡️ Defending the Faith
How do we know the disciples really told the truth about Jesus? They wrote down their own failures. They fell asleep. They argued about who was greatest. One of them even denied Him. People making up a hero don't write themselves as cowards. Honest reporting like this is a mark of a true account ().
For Dad · Go Deeper
Notice the order in . Jesus loves first. He serves first. Then He commands. The command to love is grounded in being loved. Grace comes before the call. That's the heartbeat of disciple-making in your home. Your children obey best not when they're pressured, but when they're secure in being loved by Christ and by you. Before you correct a sibling squabble tonight, ask whether your kids feel the towel-and-basin love of their dad. We lead from a basin, not a throne. The most powerful sermon your children will ever hear is the way you kneel to serve them.
Draws on: Tony Evans, Kingdom Family Devotional.
Let's Pray Together
"Father, thank You that Jesus loved us all the way to the cross. Teach our family to love one another the way He loved us. Help us serve, and forgive, and put others first. Make our love the badge that shows we are His. In Jesus' name, amen."
Jesus loved me first. So I can love others the way He loved me.