Christians Don’t Have to Try to Love – We Can’t ‘Not’ Love
Let’s talk about love.
Think you serve God?
If we’re not careful we can start thinking we’re helping God out. But, is there anything you can do that would impress God? Is there anything He couldn’t do simply by speaking it?
The fact is there is nothing we can do for God. God is not needy. He is fully sufficient. It’s you and I that need Him. We depend on Him.
The serving we do is serving OTHERS. And if you’re doing it to impress God (or fellow Christians) you’ve missed it and pride has a hold of you.
We serve others because we love them. Meaning we don’t care who sees us helping people. We honestly want to.
There are two new commands (which replace the Old ones). Love & Believe. But get this. For Christians “love” is NOT an effort. It’s something that we simply can’t avoid. It’s not a command you need to make an effort to accomplish. It’s a fact. You literally do not have the ability to not naturally love brothers and sisters in Christ.
God tells us “you WILL KNOW them by their love”. Not might. Will. If Jesus lives in you, and he also lives in other believers, we literally cannot help but have a natural love for one another. We are not “trying to love them”. In fact, if there was anything that might cause you to doubt if your faith is real, it would be if you did not naturally love other Christians. Do not confuse this with being a message of needing a long laundry list of works. That is not what we are teaching today. Drives me nuts when people go out of their way to make love about a huge effort and a big giant legal lists of to-dos.
That doesn’t mean we always get along. But there is a kind of hard programming that causes us to love each other. As the Scripture says “God has poured his love into our heart”. So you can recognize believers simply by them loving other believers. While no one knows the heart but God, you can’t help but wonder if someone is truly a believer if they actually hate other believers.
1 John 4:20 “ if someone says “ I love God”, but hates his brother, he is a LIAR. For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God who has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, for anyone who loves God should love his brother also”.
Author: Mike Cynar
Mike Cynar was raised in a church setting where he frequently noticed that many attendees would eventually drift away. The church labeled these individuals as ‘back sliders’ or ‘fake Christians’ just looking for ‘fire insurance’. However, Mike realized the issue was rarely with these individuals but instead with the church’s message itself. The teachings heavily emphasized behavior improvement and one’s flaws, with only a fleeting mention of one’s identity in Christ. It felt as though every sermon was tailored to the church of Corinth, who as we know or committing sins that even unbelievers don’t partake in. This trend was noticeable not just in one denomination, but across Baptist, Catholic, Pentecostal, and many other churches. Upon understanding the true essence of the gospel – that our righteousness comes from Jesus’ actions, not our own – Mike was inspired to liberate believers from lifeless sermons and reconnect them with the genuine teachings of Jesus. He believes that one can nurture a vibrant and growing bond with Jesus, unhindered by rigid religious practices. And thus, “Jesus Without Religion” was born.
It turns out that it is grace that leads to repentance. And if our heart is to get others to walk in the Spirit and live a godly life, then the best approach is not a beat down sermon, but rather to remind other that it is only when we understand our true identity in Christ that we will live it out. Yes, it’s true, if you’re convinced that God thinks you’re a dirty sinner, you will ultimately continue a lifestyle that mirrors that view, but if you truly believe that even on your worst day, you are called holy, sanctified, justified, and will be presented blameless in the end, well, it turns out this is the secret to living out on the outside what has been worked in to the inside.
