#Day5 #WHM #LOVE #PersonalDevotional - 2 Minute Read
"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:35 NASB1995
So many times people talk about their “personal relationship” with the Lord as if that is all that matters. “My faith is between me and my God”. And yet, if their declared God is the God of the Bible, that God clearly puts some other people between them and Him.
Our love for one another is directly tied to our relationship with Jesus. There is no “Jesus and me” without "you". Without others. I don’t get to have a relationship with Jesus apart from my relationship with others. These are the words of Jesus Himself.
To be known by the world as a disciple of Jesus is part of the point of discipleship. And the knowledge that the world has of our discipleship will not merely be our baptism into Christ, but how we treat one another in Christ Jesus as well. If we do not love one another, then we cannot be disciples of Jesus Christ. Not true disciples.
And this takes us back to what “love is”. Loving one another here is not just a verbal declaration. Not even a personal confession, like “Oh yeah, Bill is my brother in Christ. I love Bill.” Really? How? Do you assemble with Bill? Do you stimulate Bill to love and do good deeds? Do you teach and admonish Bill with spiritual songs? Do you greet Bill and talk with Bill? Do you practice hospitality towards Bill? Do you mourn with Bill and rejoice with Bill? So you support Bill? Do you forgive Bill and show grace toward Bill? Do you humble yourself to serve Bill? Or do you just know Bill’s name and say you love him?
Jesus ties our discipleship directly to how we treat one another - our brethren in Him. The world will know us by this. Recently one of our families at O’Connor Road had COVID. When they visited the doctor he asked who was caring for them. They told him how from day 1 church members came and dropped food at the door, medicines, and household goods, and how they had more than they needed. The doctor asked, “Where do you go to church?”, and now the doctor knows disciples of Jesus by how they treated and cared for one another.
May each of our lives be filled with stories of examples such as this, and may not only the world know us as disciples of Jesus, but more importantly, may Jesus know us as such. What will you do today, how might you love your brethren, so that all might know you are a disciple of Jesus Christ?
Yorumlar