Certain scriptures have been rolling around in ol' Gene Pool's head the past few days. One is from the Gospel of John and goes like this: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Our Lord did not suggest this, or say if one felt like it, He commanded His followers to love one another—that they must love one another. It’s non-optional.
Another is where Paul echoed Jesus’ command in 1 Corinthians: “These three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” And Peter wrote in one of his letters: “Above all, love each other deeply.”
So the bottom line is, Christians are to love one another and one can recognize them by their doing such. But it is often not the case.
I have long ago lost track of how many times have I watched people who “go to church” and claim to be Christian act rude, unloving, and downright mean to one another. I have lost track of how many times I personally have experienced this rudeness and lack of love from church-goers, no matter how much love, kindness, and cheek-turning is poured their way. And it seems the more rural the church, the ratio of the rude and mean to loving is higher than is found in big city churches. It also seems that the more rural the church the more apt the rude and mean are to go unchecked by shepherds (pastors), because rural churches have a propensity to derail the careers of pastors…also known as run ‘em off.
All that said, the other day a friend introduced me to a gentleman who was very discouraged with his previous church, and was looking for another group of believers to gather with. After being asked my suggestion, I commented that wherever he visited to look for love. And no matter how dynamic the preaching was, no matter how good the programs were, no matter how much he agreed with the doctrine, and no matter how magnificent the facilities were, that if he couldn’t clearly see genuine love among the brethren to turn on his heels and flee. In my opinion, church should possess, first and foremost, genuine love among one another. And if there isn’t love, it isn’t church. I will probably never see this gentleman again and I will wonder if my suggestion was of any value to him. But he got what was asked for.
So if you see a man about 40 with sandy hair show up Sunday as a visitor, he may be the one looking for your love.
Blessings,
Gene Pool
