May You Love One Another

I have come to the conclusion that there aren’t a whole lot of people who identify as Christians first. The world should know that we’re Christ’s disciples because we love one another. Instead, it’s witnessing believers these days saying things like "I'm conservative” or “No, I'm left wing.” People accuse one another, saying, “Listen, you devil. I always knew you were a demon.” This is happening in the body of Christ.

That dissension would happen in the world, among people who don't know Christ, is to be expected. Satan is the god of this world. The Bible tells us that we live in a wicked and adulterous generation, but now discord is happening among Christians too. Why do people bicker and attack one other in the name of God, which the Book of James forbids us to do? “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. …Do not speak evil against one another, brothers” (James 4:1-2,11, ESV).

There's a revision going on in many churches today so that what they represent is not the Christianity of the Bible. The world isn't becoming more open to the gospel because they look at a lot of churches and say, "That's a joke.” It's very hard to call someone a devil and then say, "By the way, I want to share God's love for you." Evangelism dies, and prayer dies with it.

Jesus is not building a better nation. He's not trying to make any country great again. He's building his church. From every nation, tribe and tongue, Christ is gathering people who put their faith in him and who are born again. He’s putting the Holy Spirit inside them as the seal that they really belonged to him.

I'm in the body of Christ. I'm in the family of God. We might disagree on certain things, but that's my brother and sister. I'm spending eternity with them. We must live out this truth: “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).

^{Jim Cymbala began the Brooklyn Tabernacle with less than twenty members in a small, rundown building in a difficult part of the city. A native of Brooklyn, he is a longtime friend of both David and Gary Wilkerson.}