When Jesus sent His twelve disciples out to tell the people in the villages of Israel about Him, He sent them by TWOS.  Why would He do that?  After all, there were only twelve of them in the first place, and if He sent them by twos, He halved the number of villages they could visit.  Jesus knew we need others to witness with us.  He knew that in the long run their effectiveness would be greater together than alone.  In our Scripture for today and tomorrow (which is the same verse), we see that our greatest witness doesn't come from what we say¸ but what we do:   "Your Love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." John 13:35 (NLT) 

Notice that our love for ONE ANOTHER is what proves to the world that we are Jesus' disciples, not our love for Him.  Yes, we must love Jesus, but in the day to day grind of life it's easier to love someone we can't see than someone who's right next to us, isn't it?  Jesus is perfect.   Jesus can sometimes seem abstract to us, but the brother or sister who's right there next to us, that's a different story.  The world waits and watches to see how we handle living with one another, serving one another, LOVING one another.  When we succeed all our sermons become real, all our words become true.  When we fail, they pull out the "H" word---hypocrite!

Stop for a moment and think about your interactions with other followers of Jesus in the past few days.  Did you demonstrate love in them?  Have you PROACTIVELY sought to demonstrate love for a brother or sister in Jesus in those few days?  Is there a brother or sister you need to reconcile with because of some past conflict?  How you and I respond to those questions is our witness to the world.  The question is not whether we have been witnesses to the world, but whether we've been effective or ineffective witnesses.  As we proceed throughout the 40 Days of Community, let's look for opportunities to witness together and to show the world that Jesus IS the Son of God and the Savior of the world!

Let's pray:  Heavenly Father, Thank You for sending Jesus into the world to save us!  Fill us with Your Holy Spirit that we may truly love one another and thus show the world that You are, indeed, our Lord and God, and that Your presence in our lives make all the difference.  This we pray in Jesus' name.  Amen.