When I was a child,
I spoke as a child.
I understood as a
child.
I thought as a child;
but when I became a
man,
I put away childish
things.
For now we see in the
mirror,
dimly, but then face
to face.
Now I know in part,
but then I shall know
just as I also am
known.
And now abide
faith, hope, love,
these three; but the
greatest of these
is love.
1 Corinthians 13: 11
-- 13
This love
Paul is admonishing for all Christian to attain and exercise in this life is
not some sort of "sloppy, emotionally charged" love, for this
love must have wisdom so that love, and charity, is cautious. Yes we must be ready to think well of all
people, but if there is no appearance to the contrary, then that love, and
charity being full of true candor, will be willing to make the best of all
things. Even when we find that this
love can no longer believe well of others, we still hope for their conversion
and that God has given to them the faith so that they can convert and recover
from the life that is in contradiction to God.
Jesus gave us this commandment and if we follow this commandment then we
show the world that we are truly one of His disciples: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I
have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love
for one another" (John 13: 34 -- 35).
Jesus did not command us to specifically have love for all people, for
this commandment that He has given was given to those who believe upon Him and
that command is that we are to love one another. Does this mean we don't love the world or have charity for the
world? No! John and one of his smaller letters wrote: "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them,
because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and
the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us. By this we know that Spirit of truth and the
spirit of error. Beloved, let us love
one another, for love is of God; and every one who loves is born of God and
knows God. He who does not love does
not know God, for God is love. In this
the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten
Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and
sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us
we also ought to love one another" (1 John 4: 4 -- 11). God is recommending that we love our
brothers and sisters in Christ, so the question is; how do we do it? John tells us: "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and
everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of
God, that we keep His commandments. And
His commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5: 1 -- 3). Without the telescope, that is God's written
word, we only see darkly, and the mirror we are using is much like the ancient
mirrors that were polished metal and only could reflect an obscure and
imperfect image. So, if we are not
studying God's Word, and not just relying on other literature to teach us the truth,
then it is, while other literature may be possibly helpful, often only is obscuring the way to true
understanding that is taught and represented for us in the Bible. The truth is found in God's Word! And the truth we have been speaking about is
what Paul and John has thoroughly and completely admonished us to have; and that
admonishment is for us to love one another.
Our God is love, we are one of his children, and as a child grows to
maturity, and we teach that child to grow into maturity, God has taught us, His
child, one who only knows in part, only sees things darkly as through a
polished metallic mirror have need to grow in our understanding. We are to be a loving witness to Him, not
just for Him, but; to Him. There are
many ways that we can show this God and love to our brothers and sisters, and
one way is not to allow "clicks" to form isolating that group away
from others. Another way is to openly
Greet, not only those we know, and associate with each week, rather to also spend
time meeting those who are new and visiting the congregation. Here's one: invite someone, someone you may
never have associated with before, to a nice Sunday brunch at your home. Get to know one another! Are you not going to spend eternity with
that person? Should we not get to know
and show love to our brothers and sisters with whom we are going to spend
eternity with? Or, is church only
something that you feel duty bound to do and so long as your church card
gets a punch hole, and maybe after 10 punches you get a cup of coffee or
something, or is church a place where you come to be with your brothers and
sisters? Only you know! Only you can make a difference in another
person's life by showing love, agape, God's love. I hope this is true of you and if you need to make changes to do
so that you will do so.
If I then, your
Lord and teacher,
have washed your feet,
you also ought to
wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example,
that you should do
as I have done to you.
John 13: 14 -- 15
Who, today, can you
show love?
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