Monday, March 16, 2009

HOW TO KNOW YOU REALLY BELONG? -- Devotional for March 16, from "Good Seeds"

Love one another, even as I have loved you. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples. (John 13:34-35)

This is the most oft repeated of 28 “one another’s” of the Bible, occurring no less than twelve times. Here John quotes Jesus. Later the apostle passes on this same injunction in his epistles. And Peter and Paul follow suit in their letters. Paul emphasizes in the Love chapter that we can be experts in many of the skills of Christianity, and yet still be failures as Christians, “if we have not love” (I Cor. 13:1-3). John dictates our Lord’s sad message to the mature but proud Ephesian church, “I know your deeds, that you cannot abide evil, and put false teachers to the test, and have endured nobly for My name’s sake – and yet I have this one thing against you, that you have left your first love” (Revelation 2:2-4). All the good things about these people could not make up for this seemingly tiny glitch in their religion. But it was actually huge, for in His commendation we see no indication of love for their fellow man, and in this condemnation we see a lack of love for their Lord. And then there’s Peter. He wrote that an obedient and pure life is going to be manifested in one chief trait: “a sincere and fervent love for the brethren” (I Peter 1:22). Peter himself at first ran hot and cold (one thing we can say for Peter is that he was never lukewarm!) But after he denied Jesus at His pre-execution trial, and following Christ’s benevolent post-resurrection offering of forgiveness to His miserable friend, Peter never again would doubt his Lord, or be cold in his love. In the painful restoration ordeal, Jesus repeated three times (surely matching the three denials): “Peter, do you love Me?” Peter had to be thinking, “Does Jesus doubt my love for Him? Well, who could blame Him? But how can I prove that my love for Him is constant, supreme, and fervent!” And then, as if reading his thoughts, Jesus gives Peter the perfect opportunity to provide such evidence: “Feed My sheep.” Peter knew the love Jesus was talking about had to be practical. John spelled it out so clearly: “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar!” (I John 4:20). We can almost hear Peter’s Amen to that: “There’s no such thing as loving The Great Shepherd without loving His sheep. And the love is not just talk – no, it’s dealing with wayward sheep (or washing dirty feet).” Not much fun in that, but that’s how we love. And it’s not just perfunctory – it’s passionate! “Above all,” Peter wrote, “ keep fervent in your love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins” (4:8). Christian love at its best is when it is practiced on others at their worst! When we love like that, all men will know, God will know – and WE will know – that we belong to Him!

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