FEAST: 30 Days of Real Truth for Real LifeSample

Day 30: John—Love

Snack

1. Love is the defining mark of a disciple.
2. We know love by looking at Jesus.
3. True love acts, not just speaks.

Appetiser

Have you ever been so defined by one quality that people immediately associated it with you?

Main Course

John is often remembered as“the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23 NIV). Reclining close to Jesus at the Last Supper, John’s relationship with the Lord was marked by intimacy. He knew he was loved, and that assurance shaped his life and ministry.

Jesus commanded His disciples,“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:12–13 NIV). For John, love was not a suggestion but the heartbeat of discipleship.

John carried this message throughout his writings. In his first letter, he declared,“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16 NIV). Love, he insisted, is not just words but action - meeting the needs of others.

Again he wrote,“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7 NIV). John anchored love not in human effort but in God Himself:“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10 NIV).

Love is the essence of the Christian life. It reflects God’s nature, demonstrates the gospel, and reveals Christ to the world. For John, to follow Jesus was to abide in His love and to extend that love to others. Like John, we are invited to rest in the assurance that we are loved by Jesus. From that place of security flows a love that acts, serves, and sacrifices.

At the end of all things, faith and hope remain, but the greatest of these is love.

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