Be Known by Love
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:35
The camp hall was alive with the sound of teenagers sharing their thoughts, struggles, and deepest questions. Their bell-bottom jeans brushed the floor; a girl with a braided headband tucked her knees to her chest.
A lanky boy with thick-rimmed glasses blurted out what everyone was thinking. “If love is supposed to fix everything, why does it feel like nothing changes?”
Their youth pastor, Peter Scholtes, had been listening from the back. As he stepped toward the wooden podium, he took a breath. He had no easy answer.
Outside the retreat, the world seemed fractured beyond repair. Tensions flared in the streets, communities splintered over ideologies. Even the church was not immune to the division. These teens carried that weight with them, and their confusion mirrored his own.
“I think,” he said slowly, “that the kind of love most people talk about is too small. But the love God calls us to? That’s the kind of love that can change everything.”
Hours later, after the teens went to bed, Peter sat alone in the makeshift chapel. The dim lights flickered, and the hum of cicadas filtered through the windows as he thought about their questions.
What could he give them—something that pointed to a love stronger than hate? He wasn’t trying to solve the world’s problems, but he felt compelled to give them something enduring. Pulling out a notebook, he began to write:
“We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
The next morning, as the group sang the new hymn, the room seemed to change. Their voices wove together in a harmony that felt like hope.
Today, that same love still has the power to speak into the confusion and disillusionment of our lives. When the world feels too divided, too harsh, or too broken, remember that love is not passive. It is active, deliberate, and often sacrificial. Where can you choose to show that kind of love today? Who in your life needs to see God’s love through you?
