“Love each other just as I have loved you,” Jesus said. That’s a pretty tall order, to love as Jesus did. I mean, He suffered for us. He went without food, without a place to live, without status, without what was due Him, and finally, He died for us.
I don’t know about you, but there’s not a lot of folks I’m willing to push through an all-nighter for. Not many I’d accept torture for. Very few I’d be willing to die for. Yet, Jesus said I am to love other believers as He loved me.
These words spoken by the Savior were to His followers about loving other followers. He gave different instructions about loving those outside the family of God, but here, He’s talking directly to those who call themselves by His name.
He says that our love for one another
is an indication of our status as His followers.
Let that sink in a minute. The degree by which we love other believers is the indicator for the veracity of our declaration of being a Jesus-follower. Bluntly, if we don’t love other believers — all of ’em — we reveal that we’re not really a follower of the King of kings. Ouch.
See anyone can claim to be a christian. They use the right vocabulary, they act really good, they attend church every Sunday, but if there are believers in Jesus that they do not love as Jesus loved them, their claim is invalidated.
I fully believe that this is a plan of the Father, that our love for one another would reveal our love of Him. Let me explain my thoughts here.
People want to belong. They want to feel loved. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves. People much smarter than I have determined this is part of the reason for the growth of gangs in our land — not the entirety, but a part. The gang members are loyal to one another. It doesn’t matter if the person is from their local group or one across the world, the loyalty is deep. They watch out for one another. They love one another, and those who are living outside that, struggling for worth and acceptance want what those in the gang have.
The kingdom of God is not a gang as we understand them, but the concept remains.
IF we love one another as Jesus loves us, regardless what tribe (read: denomination) of us anyone is from, we reveal our true discipleship. IF we are loyal to one another, caring for one another, we are proven to be His followers.
My friend, it is imperative that we pay heed to these words of the Savior. We must take action to stop being known as the army who shoots their wounded. Who would want to be a part of that?
Our job, if you will, is to make Jesus known, and to build His kingdom. We’re to live our lives in ways that cause people to notice and long for what we have. When we’re sniping about about that group, that church, that denomination, that pastor/preacher, we’re not loving them as Jesus loves us. It’s time to change.
It’s time to lovingly correct those in our “family” who are acting as though they aren’t His followers, those choosing to remain in disobedience to Him. It’s time to love those believers across the street, across the country, and across the world.
It’s time we stop must saying we’re Christians and prove it.
Coffee, Bible, Journal.
