Unity, Part 2

It was Christ’s express desire that we should be a testimony about Him in the world. He was quite clear on how we should do this: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) It is very difficult for us to convince anyone that we love one another when we cannot tolerate even the most minor differences in understanding between brothers and sisters in Christ. It is not through evangelical programs but through love relationships that we truly testify to the world about Christ.We are to love one another as members of the same spiritual and eternal family---the family of God the Father. It is in this way only that the world will know the glory of Christ our Savior.All the witnessing programs and all the efforts at evangelism that have ever been will result in little apart from the love of Christ demonstrated in the lives of believers. If we are to demonstrate the love Christ, it must begin with Christians loving one another. You may well say that Christians loving each other is too elementary an act to have much effect on the unsaved world. However, the strength of this “simple thing” resides in its elementary nature. If we cannot do so basic a thing as loving each other, we shall never convince the world that we sincerely love them. The power of the love Christ to change lives must first be expressed in the tolerance we show to each other.

Used with permission from the book, "My Father and Your Father" by Wm. Landon

Rich