The night before dying for our sins, Jesus says these very remarkable words: “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” [John 13:35]. When Jesus uses the phrase, “your love...will prove,” he’s not talking about some kind of intellectual accomplishment. Instead, the Upper Room Discourse, as John 13-17 is often called, shows how the fruit of our love can become a phenomenal display of the Lord’s glory in the world. And what is the fruit of loving as Jesus loved? We find the answer on that same page.

The fruit of loving is obeying Jesus, just as Jesus obeyed His Father, to the point of being willing to lay down His life for us. This is the fruit of sacrifice. The fruit of loving as Jesus loved us is experiencing unity with God and with each other. This is the fruit of intimacy, spiritually and relationally.

The fruit of intimacy and the fruit of sacrifice are inseparable. Together, they become an incredible display of the Lord’s glory in the world. May our friends - and even strangers - see God’s glory and goodness in us again today.

This is Luis Palau.