What If Most "Christians" Aren't?
There is an old Christian hymn called, "They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love." As a child sitting among the pews, I remember singing this almost chant of a song on a number of occasions. Its really a beautiful concept when you think about it. To be so loving as a person and a group that it actually defines the way people know you. The song draws from the words of Jesus in John 13:35 which states: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (NIV) If you've studied Jesus much, you'll quickly notice that love was a very important thing to Him. He encouraged people to do things like love their neighbor, love God, love one another. He even went so far as to tell people to love their enemies! Within this message He also sprinkled some love supporting attributes of not judging, forgiveness, compassion, and encouragement.
I have to admit, it makes me a bit sad for Jesus to have lived such a committed life to loving, so much so even in the act of dying He cried out in compassion for those torturing Him, that today His followers are known for being judging and hypocritical well before loving.
Sadly, the old hymn I sung so many times in my small church has become nothing more than a bold lie. If you were to ask the average person on the street what word they think of first to describe a "Christian" I'm certain the word "love" would not be the most popular. I'm afraid through the centuries the church has come to find Jesus's call to love to simply be too difficult. As a result, we have retreated to easier tasks of trying not to have a potty mouth or standing up for morality, or being conservative, or outspoken, or bold, or whatever else we can think of, but loving is simply too difficult. It's hard to love. Especially when someone disagrees with you, or wants to discredit you, or hates you. And rather than focus on the difficulty of following Christ due to the high calling for love, we focus on the difficulties that come with simply trying to be good. Being good is hard too, but not nearly as hard as being loving.
I have to pause now when someone asks me what I believe. Before I can respond by calling myself a Christian, I have to ask if people would describe loving as one of their first descriptors of me? After all, Jesus never said Christians would be known by their faith or by what they think, or their political party....simply by how they love. If I can't honestly describe myself first and foremost as loving, I certainly shouldn't discredit Christ by call myself a Christian.
I have to admit, it makes me a bit sad for Jesus to have lived such a committed life to loving, so much so even in the act of dying He cried out in compassion for those torturing Him, that today His followers are known for being judging and hypocritical well before loving.
Sadly, the old hymn I sung so many times in my small church has become nothing more than a bold lie. If you were to ask the average person on the street what word they think of first to describe a "Christian" I'm certain the word "love" would not be the most popular. I'm afraid through the centuries the church has come to find Jesus's call to love to simply be too difficult. As a result, we have retreated to easier tasks of trying not to have a potty mouth or standing up for morality, or being conservative, or outspoken, or bold, or whatever else we can think of, but loving is simply too difficult. It's hard to love. Especially when someone disagrees with you, or wants to discredit you, or hates you. And rather than focus on the difficulty of following Christ due to the high calling for love, we focus on the difficulties that come with simply trying to be good. Being good is hard too, but not nearly as hard as being loving.
I have to pause now when someone asks me what I believe. Before I can respond by calling myself a Christian, I have to ask if people would describe loving as one of their first descriptors of me? After all, Jesus never said Christians would be known by their faith or by what they think, or their political party....simply by how they love. If I can't honestly describe myself first and foremost as loving, I certainly shouldn't discredit Christ by call myself a Christian.
Interesting thoughts. You're touching on something that many Christians and non-Christians have been talking about for years now.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I'd like to add is that Christianity is a process. If someone was a very mean, hateful person before they came to know Christ, we shouldn't expect them to immediately shed all of their bad habits and attitude problems. Hopefully, through discipleship and prayer we are all coming closer to living a life of love and righteousness. But none of us have attained this status.
Christians follow Christ, but we never do it perfectly. We always fall short of the example he set. People will see our short comings. Loving other's is hard for some people. The important thing to remember is that Jesus gives us grace and patience and we should offer the same to others.
Hey there!
DeleteThanks so much for taking the time to comment on this as you bring up a really good point that I completely neglected in writing this. You are so right in that like anything else in life, learning to love is a process, something we have to practice and get better at, something I should have further expounded upon.
Perhaps a better way of wording it would have not been to ask how loving am I, but how loving am I striving to become?
Thoughts?
I think you've hit the nail on the head. If we aren't striving to be more loving we are probably close to being spiritually bankrupt. It's an essential component of Christianity and cannot be ignored if we claim to follow Christ.
DeleteKeep up the good work!
-J
Excellent article. Excellent comment by anonymous. I would encourage us all to strive to be known as Christians by our love. This does not mean compromise....it means love. "Love is patient, love is kind, it is not boastful,....etc...." Good stuff. Thanks Will for bringing this to light.
ReplyDelete