WANT OTHERS TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE A FOLLOWER OF THE LORD?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“By this all men will know that you are my disciples,
if you love one another.”
(John 13:35)

MEDITATION:
Wouldn’t be great if every time someone looked at a believer
they would say,
    “That person is a follower of Jesus”
If others could recognize a believer, then Christians wouldn’t have
to look for opportunities to tell them that we are disciples of Jesus.

Could that happen? According to God’s Word, it can. The scriptures
tell us that others can easily know that we are His disciples when they
see we have a constant and consistent love for other people.

That doesn’t mean that we never get angry or frustrated with others.
However, it does mean that we have developed a capacity for allowing
love to override our natural reactions and emotions. That should be
very easy to do, right? Of course not!

There are some things Christians cannot accomplish without the Lord’s
help and guidance. If we are not joined in fellowship with the Lord, we
can’t love others as we should. Only the Lord can supply the love that
we must have for our fellowman. He can bind human hearts together
in genuine love, but we don’t have the strength within ourselves to make
it happen.

This is just one of the many reasons we need to continually focus on
building our relationship with the Lord. God has given us the ability
to choose, because He wants our relationship with Him to be a result
of our love for Him, and not because He has forced us to fellowship
with Him. He has given us the opportunity to choose, and the truth
is, we must make a choice to love and obey Him.

If we don’t make a conscious choice to love, obey and serve Him, then
by default, we have made our choice to not commit to following and
fellowshipping with Him. We might be okay with our choice for now,
but there will be a time when we face the consequences of our choice.

When we truly love the Lord, the love that He has for people should
spill over into how we associate and interact with others. In fact, our
love for others is an excellent good measurement of our commitment
to the Lord and our desire to become more like Him.

In addition, a true love for the Lord should be what inspires us to
have a desire to serve and obey His commands (including all of His
commands, and not just the ones that are easy for us, or the ones
we like the most).

For instance, there are many who proclaim their trust in the Lord,
but will not obey His command (not suggestion) to bring Him ‘His’
tithe, even when the scriptures tell us that when we don’t, we are
robbing God! None of us want to be guilty of stealing from God.

The human soul is a lonely thing and needs to have the assurance of
companionship. Left entirely to itself, it struggles to enjoy anything.
God said in the beginning,
    “It is not good that man should dwell alone”
    (Genesis 2:18)

The creation of Eve was the beginning of human companionship.
God’s people are a body that is not intended to function separately,
and not intended to be unconcerned for one another. The ‘church’
is ‘one body’ of all true believers and followers of Jesus. The worldly
philosophy of survival is, “every man for himself”, but God tells us
He has another and better way!

ACTION:
Questions to consider:
    – Can others tell at a glance that I am a follower of Jesus?
       – If so, what convinces them that I love the Lord?
        – Is it my consistency in worship?
        – Is it my use of the spiritual gift He has given me
           for serving Him and pointing others to His Son, Jesus?
        – Is it my obedience to His commands (all of them)?
        – Or is it the evidence of love that I have for others
           (as the scriptures have instructed me)?

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, help me to realize that being devoted to You
is much more than just expressing my belief, as outlined in John
3:16. Teach me to love You first and to love others as You love them.
Help me to set aside my natural emotions and to allow Your love to
flow through me. Forgive me for failing to show my love for You
by disobeying Your commands. Remind me that when I bring my
tithes to You (as You have commanded), I am expressing my love
for You and showing that I trust You to provide for me. Help me
to overcome being offended whenever others remind me that I
should obey You in all areas of my life. Help me to realize it is
their expression of love and concern for me and my relationship
with You.”

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