It is All Relative

 

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.  But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.  Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.  But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.  And in him is no sin.  Dear children, do not let anyone lead  you astray. he who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.  He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.  The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.  No one who is born of God  will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him, he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are:  Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother."  I John 3:1-10

 

The passages from the last few days are strong teachings which can be hard to swallow- particularly for those determined to sit on the fence in their spiritual walk.  The truth of these passages  are quite plain- you do what is right, you are of God.  You do what is wrong, you belong to the devil.  Walking holy is more about black and white than it is about shades of gray.  There is truth and there are lies.  There is holiness and there is sin. A person desiring to follow the Lord has to make a decision.  We literally have to pick a team.  I once heard about an undecided soldier who came out in the civil war wearing a Confederate uniform on top and a Union soldier uniform on bottom.  It is told that when he went on the battlefield, that he was shot by both sides!  We must pick a side, rather than straddling the two.

Although in some passages we are warned against setting ourselves up as a judge, other passages, such as this one, indicate we can still identify a saint from a sinner.  A person is known by their actions.  We cannot have a right heart and constantly have wrong actions and behaviors.  Conversely, if Jesus is in our  heart, his character traits will work their way to the outside in tangible ways that others can observe and recognize.

One of the primary ways we show love of the Father, is to show love to our brothers and sisters.  We cannot love him and despise those made in his likeness.  We cannot love the Father, but not love his other children.  This makes sense and sound easy enough.  But truth be told, God always show his unconditional love for us; whereas, his children can treat us unkindly.  Other Christians can slander us and mistreat us.  there are times that our personalities just flat out clash.  When you are the nose in the body of Christ, you have little communion with the armpit in the body  of Christ! But if we want to please God, we must suppress our desire to protect our rights, and choose instead  to show love.  Loving our brother is about extending mercy  and forgiveness (especially when it is undeserved) and about putting the needs of others up there in importance with our own needs.  A tall order, to be sure, but possible through the grace of God.

Dear Lord, help me to show forth my relationship with you in my behavior.    Help my attitudes and actions to reflect your heart.  Help me to love others as you do.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

Sherri