The last several posts have focused on our love for our mates, but our love must not end there. In John 13:34-35, Jesus said “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Love demonstrates our faith and love for God. I John 4:7-8 tells us, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” If we don’t love others, we clearly have no meaningful relationship with God, and our claims to being Christians are false.
Jesus said all the Old Testament Law could be summed up in loving God and loving those around us. If we love people, we are not going to kill them or steal from them for example. While the Christian is no longer under the Law, the same principles still apply. Ephesians 5:1-5 commands, “ Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” People who indulge in these sins demonstrate little concern for others and are not Christians, despite their religious practices.
While we may have practiced those kinds of things, when we accepted Christ, we were changed and given a new attitude or spirit, and those things no longer define us, as I Corinthians 6:9-11 tells us. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” As a result, we are able to do what is right even though we are no longer under the Lay, as Romans 7:6 says. “But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
Although we have a new attitude and are no longer under the Law, we still have the same instincts and habits. As a result, even though we are Christians, we often struggle with doing what is right, as Paul explains in Romans 7:14-23. “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”
From time to time, even the most dedicated Christians are going to mess up and do things that are wrong. When it happens, we are not to condemn them or ignore their sin, but we are to try to help them get back on track, as Galatians 6:1-3 tells us. “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. “
It is critical that we realize we are just as susceptible to temptation as other people, and not feel superior to them because we have not done the same things. When we let pride overtakes us, we are fooling ourselves, and become much more likely to fall into sin ourselves.
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