I ran across a song the other day that I had not thought of in years. The lyrics are as profound as they are simple. And if you are familiar with it, the haunting melody will run through your head. It speaks of being one in the Spirit; it speaks of working with each other, but the ending refrain of each verse repeats the title: “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love.” It was written by Peter Scholtes. Love; how often is this a topic in a sermon or a Sunday School lesson? I fear not frequently enough. Yet it is my personal opinion that it is one of the very most powerful words in a Christian’s vocabulary. More importantly, it is not just a word; it is incumbent upon each one of us to live it as an action word—a verb instead of just a noun. The problem, as I see it, is this: it seems we have a tough time exhibiting the love of Christ to our brothers and sisters.
John 13:34-35 Commentary
How in the world do we expect to reflect the love of Jesus to the unsaved—to show them we are Christians by our love—when we cannot even exhibit the same to our Christian family? Shame on us all. There is an old saying, “charity begins at home.” What is true of familial blood relationships should also be borne out through the Blood of Jesus, which makes us a spiritual family, as we interact with one another in the household of faith. But unfortunately, it is often not practiced. Perhaps contributing to this undesirable behavior is that we do not truly embrace each other in that way.
Love’s demonstration encompasses a myriad of qualities. Compassion, patience, understanding, bearing each other’s burdens, forgiveness, allowing for differing opinions without judgment, to name just a few. The Bible is replete with its portrayal of the characteristics of love and advice on how to attain them. It gives the divine definition. As we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives and rely on Scriptural admonition to assist us in cultivating these attributes, we will be enabled to extend them with sincerity to one another.
We will then be able to witness about the love of Christ because we are a living demonstration and testimony as we follow the Master’s words in John 13:34-35: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
Note: If you are not yet personally acquainted with Jesus as your Savior, I urge you to explore the gift of salvation. Any Bible believing church will be able to assist you. Or you can gain knowledge by reading Acts 2:37-39: “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
To learn more about the teachings and life of Jesus, I suggest you read Mark (the 2nd book in the New Testament). There are only 16 chapters.
They will truly know we are Christians by our love. Until we sit down together for our next visit, continue living before God’s face.
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