“They Will Know We Are Christians by Our ____________.”
I have been meditating and praying on this subject for a few days desiring to express the deeper message that I think God wants to convey. Perhaps we need to dive a little deeper in His Word to understand the expectations of how we should love according to God. I think most would complete the above sentence with the word, “love” and call it a day. Sure, sure, we love each other. How easily we toss the word around!
The LOVE Scripture
The most famous scripture on love (quoted at many wedding ceremonies) is 1 Corinthians 13:4-6. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.”
However, if we read the entire passage before and after this most famous verse, we see showing love is not so simple. Even our famous “wedding” verse does not portray human reality. Any married couple will share they fail miserably at all the attributes! But notice, they are God’s attributes. It says that LOVE does these things, not us! God IS love having these attributes. We cannot fully understand His type of love without Him.
If we read the entire passage in 1 Corinthians 13, it is clear the apostle Paul is going deeper to say no matter how we act or what we say, if we have not loved, we gain nothing. Frankly, contrasting the beautiful words of the famous “Love is patient….”, this message seems daunting. Humans are not at all capable of this kind of love on their own. We lean on God for HIS love to shine through even through our human flaws. This is the only way we can show love to others.
God’s COMMAND
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:12-13).
This is heavy. Would we indeed show our love in this way to our friends? What about our enemies? God is commanding us to do so! This is exactly what He did for us! Why? Because He first loved us.
In our human ways, we cannot get through a day without judging one another, silently or out loud. We cannot get through a day without being irritable, being unkind, being envious, arrogant and rude. In other words, we cannot love on our own. We need Jesus to shine His light and love through us! Our love for God will be apparent to others, even through our flawed natures. It will be genuine and others will feel it.
Revival – Thank God for God’s Love
Revival is on everyone’s mind lately. Are we experiencing another one with multiple college campuses worshiping and praying as a whole? It seems to be spreading like wildfire just as it did in the early seventies with the Jesus Movement. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that a movie about that earlier time is being released at the same time a youth revival seems to be taking place!
Whether or not we recognize what is happening as a revival, it is clear that something is happening to give us hope in an otherwise chaotic world. I’ve heard it said, “revival is the Holy Spirit’s arrival”. If true, we are indeed seeing its manifestation! And it is exciting! Leave it to the young people to once again, move through pure love. They did so in the seventies and are doing so now. Their pure and seeking hearts just want to be loved right where they are. They, in turn, will freely give it. I am heartened by that! Perhaps older folks need to tap into our own former young and open hearts and see what God has in store for us!
I leave you with the most beautiful verse:
“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE” (1 Cor. 13:13). Pray on it daily.
Will people know you belong to God by your love? Let’s pray this is so every day. For those who do not yet know Christ as the one and only Savior, know this: He IS real and He loves us where we are with a true and pure love that we can never get enough of!
Tonya Noren
February 26, 2023