1-3Every person who believes that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah, is God-begotten. If we love the One who conceives the child, we'll surely love the child who was conceived. The reality test on whether or not we love God's children is this: Do we love God? Do we keep his commands? The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commandments and they are not at all troublesome. (The Message)
One of the complaints about the Christian church heard regularly is that it is filled with hypocrites. That people who are a part of the church say they believe one thing and then do the opposite. In most cases it isn't that people say they are against killing people and then go out on a regular basis and do just that. The problem arises around the relational issues so commonly addresses in the Bible and so important in daily life. Things like gossip, lack of respect, an unwillingness to forgive, passing unfair judgement, etc. are the reason those outside the church see it as being hypocritical.
John in his focus upon loving one another suggests that when we love God and keep the commandments we are exhibiting our faith. It is a reminder of the answer to the question Jesus was asked about what one must do to be saved and when the answer was to love God and love others as yourself his reply was simply to go and do that. It really sounds simple and John here in this passage says that it really shouldn't be a lot of trouble. So maybe that is what we should focus upon. Rather than the church having to stand up for God (who by the way I think is big enough to defend himself) what if the church focused upon how it could best love God, each other, and those God might bring into the people's lives? Would this change the impression of those outside of the church? It seemed to in the early church because one of the comments made about them was, "See how they love one another!"
Some thoughts to ponder and share with others:
- Where do you think people outside the church most often see hypocrisy within the church?
- Why does it seem so difficult to bring the relational teachings of the Bible into one's daily life?
- What one relational sin are you most guilty of and how could you begin to change that?
- Who do you have in your life that might be able to help you be accountable to loving your neighbor as yourself? What might it look like if you met with that person(s) regularly and were willing to talk about where you fell short in loving yourself and others?
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