Love One Another

When my 5 year old grandson started to kindergarten this year, he was introduced to a new piece of apparel, one that 0-5 little boys have no need of and that being the dreaded belt. (You thought that I was going to say the necktie, didn't you?)  Well, his Mommy bought him one a week or so before school started so they could practice buckling it. She even got the magnetic type to make it easier and for the first day or two, she noticed when she picked up the children that the belt was barely hanging on the hips and maybe through one loop of the khaki uniform shorts he was wearing.  They practiced some more and toward the end of the week, she noticed an improvement and asked him- "Landon, are you getting better at clasping your belt?" And I love his reply-  

"No, me and Alex can see each other's belt better so we do one another's- it's easier that way." From the solution of a problem from two  precious, innocent little boys comes my first entry on the "one another's" in the New Testament.  Yesterday, I reminded us of some things we, as God's children through faith in Christ, should be wearing, some attributes that the Holy Spirit provides which looks good on us. Col. 3:14- "And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness." In fact, of all the ways we are to relate one to another in the Body, none is more repeated than the one from our Lord Jesus in John 13:34-34, as He prepares His disciples with some powerful last words. "A new commandment, I give unto you, that ye love one another: as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."  Jesus said that love is our badge, our identifiable mark that we are His disciples.

Jesus, Who is getting closer to the cross, (no greater example of love than this), has just washed the disciples' dirty feet; think of this, even Judas' feet who He knows will betray Him in a few short hours .  He  also washed "foot in the mouth" Peter's feet knowing that soon, as he stands around a fire, warming himself, Peter will deny that he ever even knew Him, after affirming quite dogmatically that he would not ever do so even if all the rest did. Jesus loved the disciples, He loves you today, He loves me, and He loves a lost and dying world.  Love is the theme over and over again in Scripture. 1 John 4:7-8 "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God: and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God: for God is love."  God is love and if He lives in us, we are loving too. And yes, I know it can wax and wane depending on our pursuit of walking in obedience to Christ's command but if it isn't the rule in our lives, we have reason to examine our hearts to see if we are in the faith or not. Love is the first of the fruit of the Spirit to be named in Gal. 5 and fruit is a supernatural byproduct of our abiding in Him and His Words abiding in us. According to Rom. 5:5, "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."

I want to write at least two times on this first "one another" and show you some markers we can gauge at how we are doing in our love walk but today, I just want to pose a challenging question. According to Jesus Who said "all people will know you are my disciples, if you love one another" what are they observing as they look at the church today or, maybe more importantly, as they look at me and you today?  I note that there is too much petty divisiveness today- too many "isms" and "schisms"- too much of the attitude of "I cannot fellowship with that brother or sister (even if they are a brother or sister?) because  they__________... you fill in the blank. Shame on us and yes, I have lived there before and have repented of ostracizing and alienating other believers because they didn't cross every t and dot every i like I preferred. Who of us don't realize that when we get to Heaven, we will see that we missed it on some issues?  Isn't it sad that the statistics say that most church splits occur not from doctrinal, foundational truths which we can't compromise but on petty preferences and selfish saints?

    

Jeff wrote an excellent blog yesterday about sideliners getting back into the game because we are in the fourth quarter. I believe that and further think it is late in the fourth quarter. Isn't it time we banded together in love (and, yes, it must be truth-based from God's Word) , instead of shooting at each other. They call it friendly fire but it is neither friendly nor loving. When the soldier is marching next to me in combat, I am concerned that He is on my side and fighting the same enemy that I am shooting at. I don't care if he's white or black, if he prefers the KJV or ESV or if Southern Gospel music is blasting from his earphones or if he prefers the quieter hymns like I do. It does not matter to me if he sings in church from a hymnal or if the song is printed on the bulletin or the words are on the big screen on the wall. (Yeah, I know - it's pretty silly, isn't it?) It is fine with me if his or her church has 2 services in the morning and none at night or if they are a group of people who just stay there all day on Sunday. It really doesn't matter if they meet in the Family Life Center or if they rent a school to hold services. The building is not the church! I will stop with the examples because I am sure you get the point. No, I want to know does he love God's Son, does he love God's Word, does he love God's people and does he love a lost and hurting world?

Now, I am trying really hard to shorten my blogs because I know we lose people if we go on and on so I try to close. Remember, yesterday, I said we are too caught up in the trivial, the trite- "how ya doin?  you sure are looking good."  Today, I ask the serious- how is your love walk going? Are others observing and exclaiming- "See how they love one another"?  Love works, Saints! Everyone, whether they admit it or not wants someone to love them- from the tiny baby to the older senior in the nursing home to the messed-up Hollywood starlet. They wish someone loved them, really loved them, not a one-night stand, sensual love but real love. Someone once said, "They won't care how much we know until they know how much we care!"     How are we doing spiritually, fellow saint? Are we lovingly helping others with their belts of truth? Love sure looks good on you, Brother and Sister!!

Looking up, Deborah