By Our Love...

John 13:34-35: (Jesus said) Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples—when they see how you love one another.

The other day I came across a pamphlet from a group called The Christian Coalition.  It was designed to be handed out at churches and to tell us who we should vote for in the upcoming election.  It told us of the evils of those running against "God's candidates" and suggested that voting for anyone not chosen by them could result in apocalyptic consequences, or perhaps even having your salvation revoked.  Even apart from my belief that such political things have no place at a house of worship, this really ticked me off!  Then a few days later I saw a tweet saying that women have no place in church leadership.  REALLY?  These things reminded me that many of the things that THEY say in the name of Christianity do not represent me and have little to do with Jesus. Who are THEY?  I don't really know, but every day on Christian radio, TV, in blogs and on websites THEY certainly have a lot to say.  What are THEY telling the world about the best ways to identify a Christ-follower?  Things like this:

THEY say people will know we are His disciples by which church we attend and which translation of the Bible we have collecting dust on our end tables.

THEY say people will know we are His disciples by our doctrine and the ways we keep riff-raff and ragamuffins out of our churches.

THEY say people will know we are His disciples by our knowledge of scripture- and the way we use it to make others feel small and stupid.

THEY say people will know we are His disciples by the things we don't let people see us do, such as smoking, drinking, gambling and sexual promiscuity.

THEY say people will know we are His disciples by the things we are against, like abortion and homosexuality.

THEY say people will know we are His disciples by the amount of money we make, because God blesses the faithful with wealth.

THEY say people will know we are His disciples by the bumper stickers on our cars and the t-shirts on our backs.

THEY say people will know we are His disciples because we are patriotic and worship the flag.

THEY say people will know we are His disciples by the way we point fingers, judge people and tell them that they are sinners.  You can't be a good Christian if you haven't told someone they are going to hell!

THEY say people will know we are His disciples because we understand this to be true:  God is good, and you are not, so try harder!  We can save ourselves, because this world is all about us!

THEY say people will know we are His disciples by our intolerance of other religions, other races and anyone who disagrees with us.  Also the way we ignore the homeless, the poor and the different.

That's what THEY say; what do I say (and more importantly, do)?  Do I represent God with love and grace, or do I too enjoy pointing fingers and making my own words more important than His?  Do I remember that whoever THEY are, I must love them too, because in Jesus we should be "one in the Spirit."  As my friend Ashley Goad Broadhurst likes to say, "It should be simple; love God, love people."  Why do we make it so complicated?  I have to believe that God is shaking His head at the nonsense that comes out of His church.  We may fool ourselves, but God is no fool. His word is the truth. You cannot focus on being anti-anything if you become pro-love.  God's word says that there is only one way the world will know if we are followers of His Son:  "They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes they'll know we are Christians by our love..."  We need to get out there and love each other before THEY convince this world that Jesus is who THEY say He is.  Have a blessed Sabbath, everyone!

Because of Jesus,