True Picture

Mark 12:^30-31 “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

To experience metamorphosis in my spiritual health, first, I Must LOVE JESUS Supremely. Second, I Must MEET WITH HIM Daily. Third, I Must STUDY And DO God’s Word. Fourth, I Must TITHE My Income. Fifth, I Must Learn To LOVE Other Believers. If I want to grow spiritually, I must learn to love other believers. Why is that so important? Jesus says in John 13:³⁵ “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” It is not the sticker on your car that proves to the world that you are Jesus’ disciple. It is not the tweet on your Twitter feed that proves to the world. It is not the picture on your Instagram that proves to the world that you are a disciple of Jesus. Jesus says the one thing that proves to the world is our love for one another. I have heard people say they love Jesus, but they do not love the Church. Is that even possible? How can you love someone and not love His body? It is not possible.

I love Jesus, but I do not love His children. If someone comes to you and says he or she loves you but hates your children, what will happen to your relationship with the person immediately? You cannot love Jesus and hate His children. You cannot love Jesus and hate the Church He died for. You can’t! How are you going to cope in heaven? Heaven will be filled with those of us that Jesus died for, the people you really do not like because they are not perfect. Guess what? It is because they are not perfect that Jesus came to die for them in the first place. If you do not like them, how are you going to cope in heaven because you are going to see multitudes of them there? When you love other believers, guess what? It shows that you are Jesus’ disciple.

1 John 4:²⁰ “If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?” Some people claim to have sweet devotion with God, but they do not want to have anything to do with any Christian. In your personal worship, God came, and you had goose pimples. But you do not want to love other Christians? God says you are a big fat lair. “…for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?” Spiritual growth happens in community. You cannot by cramming the Bible from Genesis to Revelations to become a disciple of Jesus. You cannot be a disciple of Jesus by yourself. There has to be someone that will try that patience. Then you will know how to switch from patience to long-suffering.

Prayer: Father, I declare that I will love my Lord by loving His people, and this love will draw nations to Jesus, in the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen!