The Hallmark of Christian Living – Love

"A new command I [Jesus] give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." – John 13:34 

"No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." – 1 John 4:12 

By Elizabeth Clark

These are only two verses of many in Scripture exhorting us to love one another. I believe there are at least fifteen verses in the New Testament that use this term "love one another." The whole message of Jesus is about forgiveness, redemption, and love. He was our model for love in action, and He did no thing while on earth that we cannot duplicate concerning loving others.

Revival has been on the lips of many Christians lately. We long to see our churches explode with God's fire from on high! We hunger for lost souls to walk through our church doors and find salvation and eternal life. We pray, we fast, and we cry out for revival.

I know that without confessing our sins with sincere repentance, revival will remain just a dream rather than a reality. How can God sovereignly move in our midst when our hearts are far from His? When we have unconfessed sins, or are involved in ungodly behavior or lifestyle, how can we possibly expect God to invade our lives and churches? I do not think He will.

But, I am detecting yet another very important piece of what might hinder revival, and that is the little word LOVE. Oh, how we struggle with this word, don't we.

Families struggle with love, social clubs and organizations, ministries, and church families struggle with love. Some people are really difficult to love, however. I mean, there are some people so mean, nasty, unkind, rude, thoughtless, selfish, prideful or arrogant (have I missed anyone?) that it makes it humanly impossible to love them. Yep, I think I hit upon a key word: humanly. In and of ourselves, we cannot possibly love others as God through Scripture exhorts us to love. I know I cannot love those hard-to-love people without God's help. So what is the answer?

How can you and I begin to love others as Scripture teaches? Fifteen times the New Testament says that we, as brothers and sisters in Christ, are to love one another! Spoken about so often, it must be important enough for us to pay attention. But how do we move beyond our own inability to love others as Scripture exhorts? I think that is where Holy Spirit comes into center stage for us. We must keep Holy Spirit right in the middle of who we are. We must recognize that we -- in and of ourselves -- cannot possibly demonstrate such godly love. We NEED HELP!

It is so very important for each one of us to stay "plugged in" by reading the Bible on a daily basis. That is an act of discipline that takes work until it becomes habitual. As we read and learn of God's great mercy and love toward us -- who have grieved His perfect heart -- we can begin to apply this same type of example of His love to our own human relationships.

We have to live at a higher place than the world's standard, don't we. We have to step up out of our natural SELF and make a conscious decision to choose to love the unlovely Christian brother or sister.

Can you imagine what would happen if we Christians stopped acting like the world and began acting like Christ? Can you imagine what an impression we would make on the unsaved? Many people want no part of Christianity simply because we have not demonstrated anything radically different from what the world offers. Just think about it...

We have church splits because we fight and argue among ourselves. Ministries with great anointing and potential fall into chaos and ruin when brothers and sisters do not show love to one another. We become just another casualty of the spiritual war. How we must delight the devil when we participate in such things.

When we lift our heads up to our Source of love, setting aside personal differences and clothing ourselves in humility and love, THEN we shall make inroads among the lost.

Father, help us to see others from Your perspective, with Your eyes, loving them as you want us to love them. We struggle with loving others who might not be so lovable. Help us to live by Your higher standards. We want to grow and become more and more like Jesus, but if we do not show love, we cannot possibly be more like Him. We need Your help. Send Holy Spirit to strengthen us in this area of love. We want to make a difference in our world, but we first need to love one another before we can get the attention of the lost world around us. Give us Your ability to love that can change the world!

". . . and they will know we are Christians by our love."

May you seek wisdom above all else. 

Liz Clark and her husband, Bob, live in the beautiful mountainous area of Northern Georgia. 

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