“The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
How can you hate someone and be a Christian? Well, you can’t. Not according to John, anyway. I’m sure you all know some people who claim to have faith but hate other people. John says their faith isn’t pure, that the love of the Father is not in them. That’s because the love of God through Jesus Christ compels us to love those around us, in fact, everyone in the world. This love isn’t the same kind of love we’re used to, but a supernatural love. It’s the same kind of love that compelled Jesus to die on the cross in our place (John 3:16).
Love is a funny thing. We love our favorite soda. We love our cars. We love ourselves. We love a lot of things. When we say we love something what we’re really saying is that we are attached to something that brings us pleasure. When we love people like God loves people, we are putting ourselves aside and seeing to their needs.
Without love for other people, we will not serve them in a way that is pleasing to God. We may serve them, but it will usually be with a selfish motive. Godly love comes from the love of God and enables us to serve without thought for ourselves or the glory our service brings us. True love allows people to be served and God to be glorified.
John is also very clear that our actions will match our words. If we say we our Christians but hate people, we might be able to fool some people part of the time, but we won’t be fooling everybody all of the time. And we certainly aren’t fooling God.
John even says that if we hate people, we are blinded by the darkness that we walk in; which should spark a very important question in us: “Do I hate people?” Well? Consider it carefully, because if you do, John says that you and God aren’t right. That’s pretty serious.
Our role as Christian leader should be marked out by our extreme love for one another and others. This love compels us to serve and care for others without regard for our own lives or livelihoods. Without this love, we should take a hard look at who we really are and who we really serve.
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE: Love for the people around us is the mark of a Christian and especially the mark of a Christian leader.
Here’s a set of verses to meditate on today: John 3:16, John 15:12-13
Prayer: Father, show me where my love is lacking. Help me to see any hate that I am holding onto. Please channel your love through me and help me to serve with no regard for myself. Please let others to see Your love in mine. In Christ’s name, amen.
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