People of Love

It seems that what God tells us to do is to love each other. That is the mark of a Christian and that is Jesus’ command to us. The sign of a healthy church is one that lives in community and is united. The problem is that to do that, we have to be willing to give up more than one day a week. John says, in 1 John 3:16-18, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

Laying down your life for other people takes a lot of time. You could help people in need all day long. Actually acting in love rather than just saying it is much more involved. The early church members in Acts apparently met together daily. They were in constant community and sold their possessions to provide for one another.

Our commitment to each other seems to be something we do on a convenient basis. We often treat our church membership as we do a country club membership or some other community activity. We are involved in our work, our family, our hobbies and our commitment to the church is something lumped on top of that. Now, I’m not saying we should all quit our jobs and go to church all day, but I think we could start honoring the commitments we’ve made to be people of love everywhere– at our jobs, in our families, and in our other activities.