John 13:34-35

“I give you a new commandment—to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples—if you have love for one another.”

This new commandment speaks the truth in love. Loving one another as Jesus loved us is the gospel, because it communicates that we are His, that He is worthy, and that we are changed because He first loved us. Loving someone begins with selflessness and surrender. We surrender to God because we know we cannot love others like this without His help, without being loved this way by Him. It is selfless because to love others like this, we must set ourselves aside and deny ourselves daily. This is like Jesus laying down His authority and power and choosing to die on a cross so that we may truly live because of that sacrifice. Remember, Jesus said "Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:39) We find true life by loving one another as Jesus loves us.