To Love or To Hate?

Church Family: 
How does Christ want you to be known? How does Christ want His Church to be known? How does Christ want you to be known as a husband or as a wife or as a child? How does Christ want you to be known when you encounter other Christians? What should be included in every Christian’s eulogy when they pass on from this world? Love. In all of these relationships you are to be known as displaying Christ’s love.

Throughout the New Testament, Jesus and His apostles tell us that we are foremost to be a loving people in the same manner that Christ has loved us. What does Christ’s love through us look like? We are to be a people pouring forth a love that is willingly self-sacrificial for the good of others who are not deserving of our love while not expecting any love in return. This is the love that Christ has poured upon us. His love for us was completely self-sacrificing. When did He give us His love? While we were still His undeserving enemies. Will we ever be able to fully reciprocate His love? No. This is the love that we are to pour upon those in our life, family and church.

In 1 John 2:7-11, John is specifically speaking of love within the family of God, the Church. The teaching from Scripture is crystal clear. If we are not a people characterized by a love like Christ, then we cannot be assured that our faith is a genuine work of God unto salvation. The opposite of love is hate. The Greek word in the New Testament for hate is translated several ways, to abhor, reject despise, detest, repulsed and even “to put second” (Luke 14:26). Do you have anybody come to mind when you read those words? Scripture is clear, if we keep a list of people whom we “hate” we are still living in moral darkness and we are blinded by that darkness so that we justify ourselves to live in that hate. Who do you hate? Do you have a list of people within the Church that you really, really dislike and purposely avoid and put second? If you do, you are walking down a dangerous path that leads to greater darkness. That dark path can eventually lead you to be blinded by a dark justification to keep you disliking someone to the level of hate. Hatred will create a desire to separate yourself from other believers and then what follows is a separation from God. This has happened in every church I have been with. Some who claim to be lovers of Christ are haters of His people, because of some past hurt, so they leave the gathering of His people, the church, only to fade into isolation and even unbelief.

Church, God has created us to love. When Jesus Christ reduced our calling down to two commands, “love God above all else and love your neighbor as ourselves” (Mat. 22:37-40), He makes it clear that He has designed us to be a people who are characterized by a Christ-like love. We have been created and given this day today, for us to shine forth the love of Christ in every one of our relationships. He calls us out of our own self-centered kingdoms to love others as Christ has loved us (John 3:35), with a sacrificial, undeserving love that acts even when there may be no reciprocation of that love.

Let us be known today as a people who love one another as Christ has loved us!

See you Sunday, loving you: Steve