In this the
children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not
practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love
one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother.
And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s
righteous. -1 John 3.10-12
Jesus told His disciples at
one point that the way that the world would now that we are His is by the way
we love each other. This is what makes it clear to the world whether we are believers
or not.
A church divided is not
showing the world any kind of love. The way the church fights is a blight and a
ruinous thing for the cause of Christ.
We must live righteously and
love each other. These are two key indicators of our salvation. I can claim to
love God if I live in my sin and I hate my brother. Our social media seems to
have stirred up a level of acceptable hate. There is no such thing. We may hare
sin – but we can’t hate others, but especially the family of God.
The first letter of John
reveal to us how the church should function in relation to God, to His family,
and to others. As we look at our lives how are we doing in love. John is about to
give us some searching questions to help us see how we are doing.
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