The ultimate test of your discipleship.

OCT. 14, 2025

The ultimate test of your discipleship.

"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Jn 13:35 NKJV

Designer clothes brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren are recognized by their designs and by their trademarks. These trademarks make them immensely visible and identifiable. Sometimes workers in certain industries are identified by their attire, such as a surgeon who wears scrubs, or a policeman who wears a uniform, or a judge who wears robes. 

And Jesus has given to us something as irrefutable evidence that we are close to God—a test whereby you can evaluate your own spiritual growth. In fact, so amazing is this trademark that He said it would be the foremost declaration of your faith. 

Jesus said it like this: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (vv. 34-35 NKJV). 

Francis Schaeffer, the great Christian apologist, said, "Love is the final apologetic. It is the defense for which there is no defense." When a woman is pregnant with a child, there comes a point where we say that she is "showing." The life growing inside her begins to grow and show on the outside. Likewise, the Bible says, "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Ro 5:5). 

And John writes, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (1Jn 4:11 NKJV). Love; it's the ultimate test of your discipleship.

The ultimate test of your discipleship

"Love one another."

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