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

I remember, before I knew Jesus as my Lord and Savior, that I would hear about particular people and find out that they went to church and there were things about their day-to-day behavior that just made you say “they go to church?!?”.

In my previous employ I had dealings with a woman who (I happened to go to church with) had a terrible reputation for being angry and abrasive. When my new secretary started I remember having to say to her this woman can be a little abrasive so let me deal with her when she calls. Well during one of our phone conversations when she did call we happened to discussed church business and when I hung up, my new secretary said “she goes to church?!?”.

Similarly, when my husband arrived at work the other day his secretary said that a gentleman would be in to see him and that he had been extremely agitated and intimidating. My husband reached out to me and asked for prayer which I did, instantly. A short time later my husband sent me a message and to both of our surprise the agitated, intimidating gentleman was not only someone we knew but he was in leadership at a church that we previously attended. After he left, my husband’s secretary exclaimed “he goes to church?!?”.

We were created for the sole purpose of glorifying and magnifying God, through the love that we show those around us. How is it, that people who claim to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, who have claimed to have experienced the unequaled love and mercy of Jesus Christ, can be so abrasive and so difficult that people who might want a relationship with God are repelled by the behavior of these people. In fact, they are so repelled that they not only question this person’s relationship with God but they question whether they even want a relationship with the God that these people serve. This is not God’s desire or plan – “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” James 1:19 & 20

We should be more patient, more loving and more gentle, not less…Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. 1 Thessalonians 5:14

When we repent of our sins and ask God to forgive us for our rebellion and rejection of him, the forgiveness that he pours out on us, the mercy, grace and love that we experience is so overwhelming, that we want to tell the whole world. – “I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.” Psalm 9:1. How do we then come to a place that we are unkind, unloving, abrasive, accusatory, overbearing, and any other abusive descriptive word you can think of to those around us who have never experienced this love.

We get angry and have pity parties and abuse the people around us verbally, mentally and emotionally and sometimes they’re not even people we know they are complete strangers. When we do, we not only rob God of glory, we effect the testimony of other believers that God has put in the lives of those He desires a relationship with (undoing any work that God has been doing through this believer) and we potentially push this person further from God instead of drawing them closer the way we have been commanded to. We should be concerned with their testimony and ours…In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

I pray that today we would recognize that the love of Christ that we are told (by God) to show people, may be all the love that they will get that day. I pray that we will be mindful of the hurting world around us, that we would be mindful of the suffering around us and of the fact that our Heavenly Father pours out His love on us every day the least we can do is love on those around us and glorify Him. Let’s not have attitudes that cause people to say “they go to church?!?”, instead, let’s love like Jesus.

If you don’t know the incomparable love that we have spoken of, and if you have taken the brunt of the anger from the type of people we have been talking about, I pray that you would go to our Life Preserver page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/) and pray the prayer that is outlined there. Because our precious Savior wants to show you the immeasurable love that He has for you. Once you’ve prayed that prayer, please reach out to me at admin@forgiven-n-loved.com and let me know, so that I can be in prayer for you and hopefully help you grow in your, knowledge of and, love for Jesus Christ.

Luv Ya!