Love: The True Signature of a Disciple
John 13:35
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Are you a disciple of Christ, or a disciple of someone else? Jesus clearly teaches that those who are truly His disciples will be easily identified by the fact that they have love for one another. If you ever find yourself in the midst of a company of professed believers who seem to have very little if any love for others, rest assured that they are not true Disciples of Christ. The church should never underestimate the necessity of operating in and sharing the love and compassion of Christ. Believe it or not, there are some who feel as if too much love is a sign of weakness. May this kind of thinking be far from us! How can we who have received God’s love so freely ever act as if others are less deserving of the same? If you are cold, hard, and callused towards wretched sinners, perhaps you have never truly experienced God’s love, or else you have forgotten where He brought you from. What is worse is when one who has been saved loses his or her love for their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us consider what 1 John 4:20 teaches, “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” In light of this text, one should ask himself if he is even a believer at all if he has hatred in his heart for his brother. Furthermore, if an unbelieving world gets the impression that the church world can’t even get along with one another, what makes us think that they will be persuaded to join ranks? I have at times witnessed more love amongst lost people than I have supposed members of the body of Christ. Gal. 5:15 says, “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” Dear sinner, if you have had the unfortunate experience of being exposed to an environment of self-righteous so-called Christians who can’t seem to do anything but fight one another to the point of hatred, I assure you that their behavior doesn’t indicate that God Himself is like that. The fact is, the love of God is so pure that even the best of man doesn’t even hold a candle. Therefore, I beg you, before writing off the church world because of human beings who are far less than perfect, first look at the perfect example of love, Jesus Christ! He loves you!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Are you a disciple of Christ, or a disciple of someone else? Jesus clearly teaches that those who are truly His disciples will be easily identified by the fact that they have love for one another. If you ever find yourself in the midst of a company of professed believers who seem to have very little if any love for others, rest assured that they are not true Disciples of Christ. The church should never underestimate the necessity of operating in and sharing the love and compassion of Christ. Believe it or not, there are some who feel as if too much love is a sign of weakness. May this kind of thinking be far from us! How can we who have received God’s love so freely ever act as if others are less deserving of the same? If you are cold, hard, and callused towards wretched sinners, perhaps you have never truly experienced God’s love, or else you have forgotten where He brought you from. What is worse is when one who has been saved loses his or her love for their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us consider what 1 John 4:20 teaches, “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” In light of this text, one should ask himself if he is even a believer at all if he has hatred in his heart for his brother. Furthermore, if an unbelieving world gets the impression that the church world can’t even get along with one another, what makes us think that they will be persuaded to join ranks? I have at times witnessed more love amongst lost people than I have supposed members of the body of Christ. Gal. 5:15 says, “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” Dear sinner, if you have had the unfortunate experience of being exposed to an environment of self-righteous so-called Christians who can’t seem to do anything but fight one another to the point of hatred, I assure you that their behavior doesn’t indicate that God Himself is like that. The fact is, the love of God is so pure that even the best of man doesn’t even hold a candle. Therefore, I beg you, before writing off the church world because of human beings who are far less than perfect, first look at the perfect example of love, Jesus Christ! He loves you!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill