The ONLY Way They’ll Know

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.  – John 13:34

Jesus tells the disciples this after he washed their feet, including the feet of Judas Iscariot.  They didn’t know Judas was off to betray Him, but I’ll sure bet that afterwards the disciples thought about this moment a lot . . . “Our Lord washed Judas’s feet, Jesus should have killed him, but He loved him anyway.”  

Someone recently told me that one of her friends was one of the finest Christian ladies she had ever known. Yet, this lady answered this question, “If I could delete something in the past, would I do it?”  She said that she absolutely would:  she’d delete a certain politician, and they’d never be born.  This begs the question:  If there is someone, anyone that comes to mind that I’d delete . . . is the love of God in me?  

I’m reading through the Kings right now and it flat out says that some kings tried to follow God and His ways, and other kings did evil in the sight of the Lord.  God could have deleted any of them at any time, but in general, their own choices led to their often-premature demise.   The Bible tells us that Solomon was the wisest king ever, yet he finished horribly.  If he is as wise as it humanly gets . . . where does that leave us?  I’m not all-knowing, nor do I want to be.  I want to simply believe God and make the best effort I can to love and serve Him.  I want to lead people far from Him to Him.  I want to pray that He changes the hearts of evil people and turn their lives around for the whole world to see.  I’m not saying I do a good job at this . . . but with all my heart, I want to.

Who do you despise the most?  Hopefully nobody comes to mind.  But, if someone does, would you have them drop dead? Or would you rather God grab a hold of his/her heart and begin His glorious transformative work?

I believe this with all my heart . . . If someone comes to mind, and you’d rather them drop dead, then you do not have the love of the Father in your heart.  You need to be saved.

Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.  – 1 John 3:15

Lord, give us Your love.  Change our hearts so that we love You and love one another.  We can’t love on our own.  We will love with a selfish love, but with Your love, we love properly.  With Your love, we have that true agape love that has no conditions.  Change this world, Lord.  Start with me.  Amen