I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. —John 13:34-35

We cannot have Jesus’ hands without Jesus’

.

Perhaps this is why Jesus says the most important thing is to

God with all we are and to

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our neighbors as ourselves. (Mark 12:28-31)

The first thing is to get our

right with God and with the people we interact with regularly.

Loving God enable me to love my

, and loving my

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enables me to love God.

Jesus wants us to understand that following him

us to become the most loving people on the planet.

If Jesus is the gate, then you and I are

.

Be

. The best way to start being kind is to make sure that you don’t do anything mean.

The first

of the people called Methodists is to “Do no harm.”

The Problem of Consistency

Throughout the Bible, God calls people to do

things.

Jesus gave a

standard for love when he said:

“Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples…” —John 13:34-35

Jesus is not suggesting the disciples become

in public.

Jesus is saying that the entire project depends on whether they

others as Jesus loved them.

Jesus wants us to know that people understand that we belong to him not by what we say, but by how we

.

WARNING: YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN WAKE

The wake of larger ships and boats can be

to the smaller watercraft, docks, and homes along the way.

Mature boat captains are mindful of others on the water and understand “Wake

.”

Wake responsibility is about a

and intentional effort to avoid harming others at all costs.

“Following the example of Christ goes beyond simply avoiding harm. It also produces good things. Think of what would happen if you lavished love on the people around you. In your wake, others would experience thoughtful, even gentle words instead of the slicing speech or cold shoulder that they anticipated…Your wake of love would leave some people with the experience of forgiveness. Jesus invites us to manage our wake for the duration of the journey.” —Bishop Tom Berlin

Reckless Love Looks Like Servanthood (John 13:1-5)

Jesus models the behavior he

from his students. (John 13:14-17)

How will you make

others your way of life? It starts with Jesus’

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living in you; your actions will follow.

“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” —Jesus Matthew 25:40

“One of the principal rules of religion is, to lose no occasion of serving God. And, since he is invisible to our eyes, we are to serve him in our neighbour; which he receives as if done to himself in person, standing visibly before us.” —John Wesley, Founder of Methodism

For Christ to be resurrected in us, we have to let those parts of our nature that are contrary to love

.

We must let anger, contempt, and unkindness die along with our self-focused

.

“The uniqueness of the Christian gospel is the fact that what is offered by Jesus Christ is that you cannot have only God alone and you cannot only have brother and sister alone. Becoming whole for the purposes of God involves both loving God and loving each other.” —Dr. Sathi Clarke, Wesley Theological Seminary

“Jesus did not die to give us an entry ticket into heaven. He died so that we could transform.” —Bishop Tom Berlin

Action Steps:

Die to your obsession to be loved by

so that you can learn to offer love to

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.

Intentionally die to the life that was “all about

” so you can begin a life that is “all about Jesus and his love for all.”