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b'On the night before Jesus went to the cross, He told His followers, \\u201cAs I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another\\u201d (John 13:34-35). Have you ever had the opportunity to share your faith because people noticed Jesus\\u2019s love shining through you? Sometimes, before we say anything about how we belong to God\\u2019s family, people can see there\\u2019s something different about us. Why?\\n\\n\\n\\nThink about it this way: when you\\u2019re part of an earthly family, you take on family traits. If you were born into your family, you may have the same build or hair color as your relatives. And whether you were adopted or born into a family, you may also have other family traits\\u2014like facial expressions, mannerisms, sense of humor, work ethic, a knack for helping others, etc. When we\\u2019re part of an earthly family, it\\u2019s often easy to see we belong to our family because we share these traits. Being part of God\\u2019s family is like that too. The Holy Spirit develops traits in us that reflect Jesus\\u2014 like love, patience, and kindness. That\\u2019s often how people can tell we\\u2019re Christians.\\n\\n\\n\\nBut sometimes we don\\u2019t act like Christians. Treating others badly can make it more difficult for people to see we belong to God\\u2019s family. When our actions keep us from looking like Jesus, He calls us to confess our sin to Him and trust Him to help us grow in His love for others. Even when we struggle, we can have hope because the Holy Spirit is continuing to work in our lives to give us traits like kindness, patience, and self-control as we are transformed to become more like Jesus. And we also have hope that God is continuing to work in people\\u2019s hearts to draw them to Himself, even when we mess up. Through it all, we can rest assured that we are secure in the love of God, who is always kind and patient with us. \\u2022 A. W. Smith\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u2022 Earthly families are made up of imperfect people, so family traits aren\\u2019t always positive. Even when our earthly family struggles, we can rest knowing that we belong to Jesus and the Holy Spirit is working in our hearts to bring out the traits of God\\u2019s family. What are some of the negative and positive traits in your family? What godly traits do you see the Holy Spirit bringing out in you? (Galatians 5:22-23)\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u2022 As the Holy Spirit works in you and helps you notice the negative and positive traits you see in yourself and your family, who are trusted people you can talk with\\u2014such as counselors, therapists, pastors, parents, etc.?\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u201cBy this everyone will know that you are my [Jesus\\u2019s] disciples, if you love one another.\\u201d John 13:35 (NIV)\\xa0\\n\\n\\n\\nREAD: JOHN 13:34-35; GALATIANS 5:22-23; EPHESIANS 4:24-32'