A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
Love as an idea is easy to be for. Nearly everyone claims to value it. But this verse doesn't leave love vague — it ties it to a specific, visible standard: as I have loved you. Not love in the abstract, but love shaped like the way Jesus loved the people right in front of him — inconvenient people, slow-to-understand people, people who'd eventually abandon him.
And there's a claim about visibility here too: by this everyone will know. Not by correct beliefs or impressive arguments, but by whether the love is actually recognizable to people watching from outside. That's a hard bar. It puts the proof somewhere uncomfortable — not in what you say you believe, but in how you treat the people nearest you.
You don't have to have this love figured out to notice the standard being set. It's worth asking honestly: what would change if love that costs something, not just love that feels nice, became the measure?
If you've ever wanted to see what love actually looks like instead of just hearing it talked about, that's worth looking into.
A short video on this is coming soon — for now, read on.