Oh, My! How Do We Do That?

Chris, Bethany, Rachel, and David

"Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.  Our actions will show that we belong to the truth. . . " (From I John 3  NLT)

Time and time again we are told in the Bible how important it is that we love one another. It is clear that one of the marks of the Christian is that we love others -- and show it. Jesus said that others would know we are His disciples when they see how we love each other. In other words, it is a critical testimony before the world that we love one another sincerely.

Take a look at this little group of family members above. It is pretty clear to me that they love each other dearly. But at times it is even tough to love our own family -- people can really get under our skin.  We cannot write them off, though, if we are truly Christians. It is hard to love our family and friends unconditionally, but Jesus went a step further and gave us one of the toughest rules of all. He said to love our enemies, show kindness to those who are mean and cruel to us. Oh, MY! How do we do that?

This is another example of our own frailty. We do not have it in us to live in obedience to Him. Yet, the quandary comes back to what Jesus also said, "if you love me, KEEP my commandments." We might be thinking, "OK, Lord, we get it but we are weak." Jesus has the answer to that. We must not rely on ourselves, our "smarts", our own self discipline. We are to depend upon HIM and His grace to live in obedience to His clear call to us. How? It seems impossible! The apostle Paul wrote in regard to his own frustration about a personal hindrance in his life: "But [Jesus] said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'” (II Corinthians 12:9)  Later on, Paul must have experienced some victory, for he wrote, "I can do ALL things through Christ, who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13). 

Today I urge you and me to repent from any anger, resentment, or grudges that we have been holding. Let us fall upon Christ to renew His own, pure love that He has "shed abroad" in our hearts. And may we determine to draw upon HIS grace to help us demonstrate our discipleship through loving one another as we depend upon Him to enable us to do so.

Let's look at a portion of the Love Chapter (I Corinthians 13) from a modern paraphrase and yield to the Holy Spirit to make it true of each and every one who knows Jesus as Savior and Lord:

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end. . . .
Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly.