Thesis 60 We must love each other.
It should, though it doesn’t, go without saying. There’s no question that the Bible teaches this. There’s no question that the Bible emphasizes this. There’s no question that we’re not very good at it. Why, when the command is obvious, are we so bad at obeying it? Because we’re no good.
Even a cursory reading of the gospels will reveal the connection between God’s love for and grace toward us and our call to love and be gracious toward one another. When we have been forgiven much we are to find it easier to forgive much. When we have received grace we’re to find it easier to give grace. We fail here, however, because we judge unjustly. We minimize our sins while maximizing the sins of others. We minimize the importance of others, while maximizing our own importance. Whether it is a marriage, a family, a friendship, or a church body, believing ourselves morally above others is a sure recipe for disaster.
When I find myself hated by others, including those who name the name of Christ, I try to find my comfort in the sure knowledge that my heavenly Father loves me. He knows how truly awful I am. Those who despise and accuse me are blind to my real flaws. My Father knows them all, and despite this loves me. When I find myself hating others, including those who name the name of Christ, it should be enough for me to remember that I am not due the love I receive. It’s not a bad first step. But I will do so much better if I remember not just that Jesus loves me, despite my sin, but that Jesus loves the one I’m despising, despite his sin. When we fail to love our brothers and sisters we put ourselves in direct opposition against the One who loves and redeemed us and who loves and redeemed our brothers and sisters. “Jesus loves me” doesn’t blow me away like it ought to. “Jesus loves them” barely registers with me. Because I am a fool.
Our love for each other makes manifest three things the world needs to know. First, that love is possible. How easy it is to grow jaded and cynical when living in a world untouched by God’s redeeming grace. Those fragments of the image of God that yet remain in the unbeliever long for love and acceptance. What a testimony when they see it among believers. Second, it shows that change in us is possible. My growing capacity to love the brethren is evidence that I am part of the family, that the Spirit is at work in me. When the unbeliever is discouraged in his own sin, it is light to blind eyes to see believers growing in grace, evidenced by increasing love one for another. Third, that acknowledging our sin is not a doorway to despair but the entrance into liberty. When the love others have for me is grounded not in me being good but in Christ being in me, when I have no need to pretend to be better than I am then I can know that the love I receive is for me, and not the image I project.
More important than all this, however, when we love one another we delight our heavenly Father.