"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:34-35
First off I just want to thank David for allowing me the opportunity to guest blog on his site, he has some great material and I’m just glad and blessed to have this opportunity. For those of you, who don’t know me or have seen my writing, which I’m sure is most of you, I hope that God has given me the words that either inspire or move you closer to Him.
When I was asked to write I wasn’t really sure what to write about, cause there’s so much, but there’s been something on my heart and it’s becoming the heart of my ministry. That heart is discipleship, and getting back to the heart of church, and what God wanted out of us when He gave us the Holy Spirit. If we look at the scripture above, this is Jesus’ words to the Disciples at the last Supper and one of His final words to them, and it’s His urge to them because Jesus at this point knows they have to start the church and be the foundation of it all.
The foundation that Jesus lays down is one of love, and of loving one another and through that love people will see the Father. If we fast forward into Acts and we see the formation of the church and the fellowship of believers it’s the same exact thing. They devoted themselves to one another and to the Word in such a way that others took notice and they added to their numbers daily. It’s this simple formula laid out over and over again of what the church is supposed to be and what followers of Christ are to look like, yet so often we miss it and over complicate it.
People are to look at us, and that’s supposed to be the witness of who Christ is and through us they are to see Him, and my question is; what are we showing them. In 1 John 4:12-13 he says:
“No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.”
It’s very clear we are the window into which others see God and who He is. What are we showing Him? We split up along religious lines and then talk about differences between different religions, and then amongst ourselves we fight and argue over what’s the right way to follow Jesus. That’s not the image of Jesus that we are supposed to show, as it’s laid out we are to love one another with such passion and devotion that the whole outside world can see, and not help but notice the power of the Spirit.
My challenge is to get back to the heart of church, what our Father meant it to be, that we cut out the distractions, the programs, all the things that get in the way and just get back to fellowship. To devoting ourselves to one another, to discipling others and showing the love of Christ. That’s all we are meant to do and all we can do, we can’t convince people to follow Him, just show them the power of the Spirit in our pure authentic love for one another.
That is my prayer for all of you, that we begin to shut out the noise and get back to Jesus, and the love He has shown us and now it’s our turn.
This has been a guest post by Daniel Hunter. For more if his inspiring works, visit his blog at http://www.danieljhunter.wordpress.com or on Twitter at @Daniel_HunterRR