A call to love…
Jesus emphasized over and over again that the most important thing or doctrine that we should place over every other (the first and greatest commandment) is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as Christ has loved you”.
We have all heard that our entire lives growing up in church. It seems like a no-brainier, most people think they get it. I don’t think we get it at all. This is a call to live out unconditional love. A love that is not held back by different doctrines or belief systems. Jesus’ love is not based upon your performance or how correct your theology is. He loves because it is who He is and He has called us to do the same to the world around us.
Imagine for a moment that churches loved each other like they love and show kindness to their own denomination. If we are called to love and bless our enemies, surely you would expect that we are meant to bless our own brothers. Jesus said “if you hate your brother you live in death”. Far out! I think there are a lot of people living in a place of death. I think much of the body of Christ right now is living in death and proud to have nothing to do with ‘the deceived ones’. And that is the sad thing because Jesus wants everything to do with his kids, even if they don’t have it all figured out.
I’m glad Jesus didn’t hold me at arms length until my theology was straightened out. He embraced me at day one, and his love has continued to shape me and mold me for the last 10 years and we are called to do the same.
Why do churches split? Denominations divide?
Disagreements over theology, people struggling with human nature (sin) etc. We are called to unconditional love and to bless even our enemies. Love to our brothers should be unchanged even if they have different thoughts on the end times, gay marriage, or whatever else. “Jase, you are a postmodernist” you may think… nope not true. I believe in absolute truth, and He is Jesus and he’s called me to love unconditionally. The responsibility is to love no matter what theology others hold. Is truth important? Yes truth is to be pursued, that is Jesus. But at the end of the day, the pursuit of knowledge and truth does not take away from the first and greatest commandment…. To LOVE.
1 Corinthians 13:2 says If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
The Lord is saying, through Paul here, that knowledge with out love is meaningless. Even if you fathom all mysteries (if you have the understanding of God himself) and do not love like we have been called to…. If love isn’t our priority. We are nothing…. Harsh? I don’t think so. I think it is just a reflection of God’s priority to love his creation and for us as believers to do the same..
For so long the church has been focused on being right, fathoming the mysteries, understanding prophecy eg. End times. This has lead to many church splits and much division. Imagine, if the doctrine… the truth that we held closest to us was the one that Jesus told us to….The call and responsibility of the believer to show unconditional love.
How awesome would it be if the Church was known for its love for one another like Jesus prayed. I didn’t see him praying that the church would be known for its correct eschatology, doctrine or theology.
At the end of the the day… pursue Jesus the truth, pursue wisdom, pursue knowledge and the mysteries of scripture. Make sure to hold unconditional love of people that believe and think differently than you, higher than your own opinions on who God is and how he operates. Love like crazy and that will change the world.
Jase
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growing up i always thought that i was saved by my knowledge of the bible. i’ve read the bible for many years and never could get the full understanding of it. I was a meth addict for 5 years it was’nt until i was ready to kill myself. that i really heard the power of the holy spirit speak. God has changed my heart through prayer it really is true that those who ask shall recieve. sometimes we just need to learn what to ask for. God will not give us what will harm us money,material,sucess…etc but what will heal us love,guidance,strengh. I prayed for years to quit meth and i always failed. i expected God to take away my desire to use at my command. It was’nt until i was brought to my knees and asked for his help and guidance that i was able to live again. God put situations in my life to help me overcome my sinning nature he did’nt just take it all away.