How's your love?

Last time we talked about whether or not other people could see the holiness in you as an evidence of holiness. This time we talk about one of the things that others need to see in you. I believe that this one is such a big deal that it needs to be an evidence all in itself. So, to further the idea of others; does the believer have a genuine love for God and for other people? You guessed it; the only way to answer this question is to answer a series of other questions. Isn’t it cool how life’s biggest questions always lead to more questions? Why is that? Well, that is another writing altogether; probably one full of more questions. Here are the things you need to answer before you can honestly say if you love others which in-turn tells if you love God.
Do you have the capacity to love everyone? Think about this one before you answer it. It does not just mean everyone you have ever met. It means loving those that you usually do not think about. We will get deeper into that with more (you guessed it) questions later. Can you love your friends and family unconditionally? That means no matter what they do to you, you still love them. No one can hurt you like those closest to you and when that happens can you still love them? When they don’t turn out the way you think they should and don’t make the best choices, you still love them. Can you love one who has hurt you or your family? This is one who is not close to you but hurts you or those closest to you. Sometimes we get more hurt over our loved ones getting hurt than when we get hurt. When your child is the victim of a crime, can you still love the attacker?
Can you love the non-believer? This sounds easy because this is what we are supposed to do but sometimes the non-believer can get on our nerves because of their choices. We may not approve of their lifestyle and it may make us uncomfortable. We have to love them through the bad choices and consequences they face because of those choices. Sometimes the non-believer even lives a lifestyle of deep morals and great choices. This can be more challenging to love because of envy or inability to show them a need for Christ. Can you love them through this and let them met Christ at their own pace? Can you love the atheist who claims that Christianity is a farce and that you are lying about loving them? All of the words in the world are not going to convince them that God exists. The only thing that will is the love of a believer who never leaves their side, even if things fall apart in their world. When things do fall apart for an atheist, they have no God to lean on, they only have people. Wouldn’t it be great if the most loyal and loving person they have to lean on happens to be a follower of Christ? Then they will see your love. Can you love the homosexual, even the one who refuses to admit that it is a sin? Here I am not talking about the whole “hate the sin love the sinner” thing that we Christians try to throw at them all the time. I mean truly reaching out to them right where they are in life right now and loving them through it all. If we can love and reach out through other sins why not this one?
Can you love the drug addict or the alcoholic even if they are in that place by their own choices? The great “love” chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 is less about martial love and more about holy love. Without love all the gifts in the world are worthless. Without love the believer cannot be sanctified. Do you love God? Not if you don’t love others! If obedience is an issue, if consecration is an issue, if how we treat others is an issue, or if fruit of our ministries is an issue, then we do not need to check our gifts or our willpower; we need to check our love. If you focus on loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and body then everything else will fit into place and God will give you the capacity to love all these other people. So if you love God, then you will love others; if you do not love others then you do not love God. You can love others without loving God, but not to the depth and width as you can with Him. So it is that it’s your love of God that gives you the capacity to love others.
Holiness will give you a distinct increase in your love for others. An increase that you will notice and so will others. A truly holy person will live by this creed: “The world will not believe or care that Jesus loves them until they first see that I, the Christian, loves them.”
Talk to me.