Today in my one year Bible reading, I came across a verse that sums it up. "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35) It doesn't say that all people will know that we are disciples if we love unbelievers. It says they will know that we are disciples if we love each other.
I started reflecting on how often the Bible speaks of doing good to the body of believers. In some instances, it says to do good to all, but especially to believers. Why is this? Why would it not say to focus on doing good to the lost, to unbelievers? That would seem more right to me.
I think I am seeing the answer to this at Redeemer Community Church, where I am currently attending. I have found there an authentic group of people who are true disciples of Christ. People who are daily being refined and sanctified through God's Word and through community, yet are focused outward at a dying world. And I know that the more united we become, the more we love each other, the more others will desire to be a part of it. People will see and want to know what is different. I am NOT saying we are to close ourselves off to the world and just love each other. I am saying we are to love each other, to live and breathe in community in front of the world.
I pray that God would be glorified in us and through us as we seek to live out the Gospel in our daily lives. Lord, provide us opportunities to invite outsiders in to see it. That the love of Christ would be so prevalent in our lives and in our homes that people would be saved and made disciples through it. Lord, to you be the Glory!
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