The one whose walk is upright fears the Lord, but the one whose ways are devious despises Him. ~Proverbs 14:2
There is no fear in love. Perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. ~1 John 4:18
Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command, but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in Him and you, because the darkness is passing, and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light, but hates his brother or sister is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother or sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. ~1 John 2:7-11
We are one in the Spirit. We are one in the Lord.
We are one in the Spirit. We are one in the Lord.
And we pray that our unity may one day be restored.
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
Has it ever occurred to you that you only love God as much you love the person that you love the least? Now, that perhaps presents a challenge to us all, but it is true. John is clear about this in his writings. We don’t truly love God if we don’t love others, especially others who claim the same name we do, “Christian!” So, God has a right to ask: “Sinner, do you love Me?”
You may be thinking at this point that I’ve lost track of the proverb for today, but allow me to explain. The proverb today emphasizes how our outward behavior tells the truth about our attitude, love for the Lord. “One whose walk is upright fears the Lord.” How we walk among our brothers and sisters puts on display the truth about our love for God. I don’t think that we often think of it that way.
We believe that we can say that we love the Lord, even though we find other Christians annoying or downright intolerable, especially those we disagree with. “So, sinner, do you love Me?” When our walk is truly upright, by God’s standards, our love for all is genuine, not just a cliché, or something we need to say to fool ourselves and others into believing how good we are. In fact, if we want to play that game, for the sake of appearance, Solomon actually says: “But the one whose ways are devious despises Him.”
When we pretend to have love, but don’t really, we are being deceptive, and the warning here is that we are actually showing contempt for God. We may not think that our attitude is a serious sin, but that is part of the blindness that John is talking about when he says: “Whoever hates his brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.”
We play games with the word, “hate.” We’re good at political correctness and find more acceptable words to substitute for the attitude, but in God’s eyes, when we will not tolerate a fellow traveler, for whatever reason, we then also have to deal with what our attitude truly is toward God. “I ask again, sinner, do you love Me?”
“A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, (including Judas, my betrayer), so you MUST love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” Do you see how it must be visible? When one walks uprightly, it is visible. It can’t be hidden. Our love for one another, despite our differences, is meant to attract the world to Christ. There is no other way to unify except through Him.
There have been worldly attempts to unify, under man’s ideas, but they all end in pain and failure. Only in Christ, is true love for all possible. As we love others, we put our love for God on display. When we gossip, or ridicule, we demonstrate our contempt for Him and look too much like the world to truly make a difference. “Sinner, do you love Me?”
“No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us… God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother or sister, who he has seen, cannot love God, who he has not seen. And He has given us this command: whoever loves God must also love his brother and sister.” (1 John 4:12-&-17-21) “So, sinner, do you love Me now?”
Prayer: I do love You Lord. And I know I don’t live up to that and show you very well, especially when I am in conflict with or angry at any of my brothers and sisters in the Lord. I need Your grace! I need Your Holy Spirit in me to help me love well. Help me believe how much you love me, so that I can love others better. In Jesus name, amen.
Song: We Are One in The Spirit
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