They'll know we are Christians by our ________?
By our congregation size?
By our happiness?
By our prosperity?
By our fun youth group games?
By our professional standard of lights and smoke machines at church?
By our blog posts?
"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Oh, by our love. Really? That's it?
We complicate Christianity a lot more than we should. We add a lot to the Bible in our minds and views and then end up reading it like it was there all along. I think because the enormity and of God is difficult to comprehend, so we like to give Him more boundaries and restrictions ang guidelines.
So then we underestimate it because we've tried to package it and present it so neatly.
Like love. Seems so basic. And yet it's actually the most important and the most challenging thing of all.
I think that's why God likes to remind us of it so often.
A new command I give you: Love one another. As 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."
if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing
the greatest of these is love
over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind
Love your neighbour as yourself.
love your enemies
Above all, love each other deeply,
let us love one another, for love comes from God.
We love because he first loved us
God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us
God is love.
Verses:
(John 13:34-35
1 Corinthians 13: 2 &13
Colossians 3:14
Matthew 22: 37 & 39
Luke 6:35
1 Peter 4:8
1 John 4:7 & 19
Romans 5:8
1 John4: 8)
It's simple. But He never said it was easy.
So true. We like to talk about love, but too often we don't demonstrate it in either our actions or our attitudes.
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