“You are My friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in His slaves. Now you are My friends since I have told you everything the Father told Me.” (John 15:14-15 NLT)
This will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me, but there’s a lot that I don’t know. In this season of my life, I truly believe I actually know less than I’ve forgotten (I’ll let you think about that one 😊). However, there are some convictions the Lord has given me that I hope will make sense to you and will be valuable as you move forward in your walk with the Lord Jesus.
Let me summarize yesterday’s post like this: The Lord has commanded us to love one another, but sometimes that’s not very easy. So, what should we do to keep the Lord’s commandment? There are so many “fronts” upon which we’re required to do battle, yet Satan is the author of confusion, not Jesus. What can we do to keep Jesus’ commandment to love our fellow pilgrims in our Jesus walk, while not having to believe exactly the same on every point of doctrine?
The Lord has blessed me with a church family that is very diverse on many levels. There are more than 50 language groups represented in our congregation that include people from all over the world, but it’s a beautiful thing when we come together on any given Sunday and blend our hearts and voices in worship of our King Jesus.
Do we all believe exactly the same? I’m quite sure we don’t. Are each of us on the same level of spiritual maturity? Nope. There are lots of things that could divide us if we let them, but my church has a couple very strong convictions that serve in some very practical ways to keep our focus on what connects us, not what divides us.
How do they do that? They preach and teach that the Word of God is our rule of faith; that Jesus was God in human form as He walked earth’s pathways; that He died a cruel and painful death on the Cross to pay the penalty for our sin; that we can be forgiven from sin when we place our trust in Jesus alone by faith alone; that the Holy Spirit fills and empowers every believer and is our constant companion and guide as we seek to follow Jesus together.
We believe that prayer is the work, then God works, so, in every service we carve out specific time just to pray. We believe the only hope for the world is Jesus because He is the only way to heaven. How do we know these things? Because the Bible is clear on these basic tenets of the Christian Faith.
There are many other things the Bible teaches, but these are a few of the basic elements of faith on which I hope most every believer can agree. What too often happens is we begin to nitpick points of doctrine that aren’t critical to our salvation. I personally don’t have the gift of speaking in tongues, but some of my closest brothers and sisters in the faith hold fast to that teaching. We love each other while continuing to follow our understanding of what the Bible teaches.
I’m learning in this season of my life that if we let the Spirit flow in and through us, it’s a lot easier to love others as the Lord desires than if we try to love them in the energy of the flesh. Are other believers going to get on our last nerve? Absolutely, but they don’t have to be a believer to do that. Anyone can get under our skin, but by God’s grace and with the Spirit’s help, we can love them anyway.
You want to know what the Lord is showing me? The closer we get to someone, the easier it is to love them. My conviction is that we have a lot more in common than we have differences, so, if we start with those things, the Lord will help us to deal with one another’s differences. You know what? It’s beginning to sound a lot like marriage!
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 