The Believer’s Responsibility: Love One Another
I failed to love in a big way.
I was sitting in 6th grade Sunday school when in walked a new kid. Because his family was new to the church, our families had just recently gotten together. I think they hoped we would become friends, but I just didn’t find much in common with this kid. In fact, I thought he was a little weird.
So, when he walked over and pointed at the empty seat next to me asking, “Is this seat free?”, I lied and told him it was taken. Of course, no one else came into the class after him, so that seat sat empty the entire time. His family didn’t stay at our church very long… and I can’t help but wonder if, in part, it was because he didn’t feel loved and accepted.
Now, I know that I’m not responsible for him, nor was I at the time. And even if I had been gracious and kind, he and his family were free to choose where they would connect with a church.
But I also know that I completely failed to love him because he was different from me.
In Luke 10, an expert in the law asked Jesus a question. Jesus answered the question with a question: what did the expert see in God’s law? His response is what we now know as the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27, NIV).
When Jesus affirmed that this was a good answer, the man sought to justify himself. He wanted to know that he was ok in the way that he was living. He didn’t want to be challenged to love more extravagantly or broadly than he was comfortable with. He just wanted to make sure that he was doing enough to check the box.
In response, Jesus told him The Story of the Good Samaritan. In that story, the man who was commonly despised and deemed “different” (the Samaritan) was held up as the illustration of love. The ‘Good Samaritan’ exhibited godly love for one whom the world said he should reject and despise because Jews and Samaritans didn’t associate with one another. They had too many differences.
In this story, the Good Samaritan was willing to get his hands dirty and to show love in a very practical and helpful way unlike the religious elite (priest and Levite). Jesus made the point that we are to show mercy and love others just as we love ourselves.
Even if someone is different, difficult, or even, in our human estimation, despicable, as Christ-followers, we are not exempt from expressing and acting in love. In fact, it may be that God uses the person who is so different from you to test your ability to love.
Jesus said, “I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven… If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? …Do not even pagans do that?” (Matthew 5:44-47). Jesus is saying that if we only love those who are ‘in our camp,’ we can do that without God’s help; there is no reward in that. But loving our enemies, those completely different from and opposite to us, takes God’s love working in our hearts.
Since the Supreme Court's decision last week to overturn Roe vs. Wade as unconstitutional, there have been countless explosions of anger, fear, and hatred on social media, in families, and amongst friends. Of course, we’ve seen this escalate in the past few years whether the subject is politics, race relations, or how people handle COVID. As believers, we must be careful not to excuse Jesus’ command to love based on another person’s differences.
Albert Tate, in his new book, How We Love Matters, references Revelation 7:9 and calls it “God’s family reunion” in which people gather from “all tribes and peoples and languages.” He then challenges us by saying this: “At God’s great family reunion, we will be there with the traits of love and kindness and joy and peace… we will be there throughout all eternity, feasting (together)… If this is our eternal destiny, shouldn’t we start practicing it now?”
Dear Saints, what does it look like for you to fulfill the Great Commandment and love the one who is very different from you? How do you invite God into that? Remember that you are not expected to, nor can you, love others out of your own strength and wisdom. The Good News is that God doesn’t expect us to do this on our own; He will provide you with the ability to love others.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7, ESV)
Neil T. Anderson is the founder of Freedom in Christ Ministries. He began the ministry in 1989 and continues to spread the message of freedom to this day.