Love For One Another

"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" - John 13:35

It's rather sad how we who are to be known for our love for one another tend to easily divide over little things. We will characterize others by what dominational church they go to and then make sure that if theirs is a different denomination than ours we can easily justify not listening to them. Or when people leave our church to go to another, we feel as if we can no longer fellowship with them because they "rejected" our church and therefore aren't worth fellowshipping with. We will divide ourselves over non-essential beliefs, be it Calvinism vs Arminianism, spiritual gifts for today vs. no gifts today, etc. We will allow ourselves to get divided by small things such as athletics, personal convictions, and/or age groupings. We will allow ourselves to judge one another based off the latest trends and fashions therefore only hanging out with those we deem "cool" or "popular". We will divide ourselves simply because we are too prideful to submit to someone else's leadership, be it the pastor, ministry leader, or coach. We will divide ourselves over personal preferences like worship style, building structure, large/small congregations, etc.

And yet, we are to be known by our love for one another. How can someone tell if I am a disciple of Jesus? They should look at my life and be able to find love. Not just love for those who I already get along with or like being with me, but love for those who differ with me on issues, don't want to submit to authority I've been given, or don't fit into my "comfort zone" of people I normally hang around. We need to check our pride in at the door and realize that we aren't as great or as important as we think we are (or that others tell us we are).

Whose the one Christian you totally can't stand right now? Go and love that person. Go and pray for that person. Go and show the world that you've decided to place yourself below that person in order to lift them and esteem them in others eyes. "Yeah but what about me?" Who cares about you! You let the Lord worry about that because ministry has nothing to do with us but everything to do with Him. And we are all called to minister to one another.

Love one another...not a suggestion but a command!