How Will They Know?

When you love someone or something, you feel strongly about it right? Meaning, if anything tried to hurt that someone or something you would get defensive, you would stand till the last, right? Well, I love Jesus. Not near as much as I should, but I do love Him and strive (not nearly hard enough though) and will be defensive about my faith.    

So the other day I was having a conversation with a very good friend of mine, and she was talking about a famous person she really enjoyed in a film she saw recently. Now, me and this friend have been friends long enough to where we can be brutally honest with each other so the next thing I said did not surprise her, 

"You know," I said, my voice raised a little in defense, "that person was a really good at portrayal, but someone told me recently that they hated Christians."    

She was quiet for a moment then said, "Well, there are those people who say they are Christians and are so hate filled and angry that they stand out on street corners and scream at people that they are going to Hell... if I didn't know God wasn't like that, I wouldn't like Christians either. I mean God's a just God, but He is a God of love also."

This made me stop and think, and I haven't actually stopped thinking about it since then. I began to wonder, how many people turned away from the Lord and said, I don't want anything to do with that Jesus, He causes people to hate others. I wondered if people didn't know the Lord because they said, those Christians are just like everyone else. I began to wonder how many people didn't know the Lord because they had never seen what love really was... and it was the Christians fault. 

Now, don't get angry and click off and think that I am saying that everyone is wrong and we are all failing. I am not trying to be depressing or blame anyone. The purpose of this blog was to encourage others, so, now I am getting to the point of this post.

So, now your either mad at me and wondering where in the world I am going with all of this or your sitting there and thinking, Man, that's awful! But what can I do?

*Ding a ding* we have a winning question, and I am going to give you the answer. Actually God gave you the answer, I am just going to write/read it to you. :)   

John 13: 34-35

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another."

So, my underlining might have helped you get my point. We are supposed to love one another, LIKE CHRIST LOVED US. 

Now, you might be sitting back thinkin phew wee! that's a lot of work! It is, but as Christians we are s upposed to follow what the Bible says and the Bible says to, LOVE. ONE. ANOTHER. 

Ok, lets pause there for a moment and think about something else. You see people all the time who are angry. They hate their family members, their friends, the people around them. The Bible says that this is wrong;

1 John 4:20

"If someone says, "I love God" and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen how can he love a God whom he has not seen?"

So, the Bible is clear, we are to love one another. That doesn't mean we are going to be best friends with everyone, it does not mean we are going to like everyone. There are people we are going to run into that we will have difficulty with, there will be people whom we thought were friends that will turn on us. But the Bible says that we are to love one another. Just because we don't necessarily like somebody or have a hard time with them, doesn't mean we can't show kindness to them. Now, granted this is all very hard, but each person knows his own depravity and the sins that we commit everyday, and yet God loved us so much that He sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die for us, and He loves us still with all of our sinful depravity. When you look at it that way, our job doesn't look so hard.

I hope that through this article (it feels like I have been rambling :p) that your are convicted and encouraged. May God bless you richly~