A Mature Christian 1

Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, that no matter how good you are at everything else, if you don't have love, you are nothing. John MacArthur calls love the characteristic of a mature Christian. I actually count two other things in that list ... holiness and an experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ. But love is what matters most in this particular post on this blog.

Jesus said, "By this will all men know that you are my disciples, that you have love one for another." From that I note the following things...

The love that Christians have for one another is different in kind than the love the world displays. Secondly, love is seen. People see the love Christians have for one another. Third, it is by the demonstration of love that the world will mark us as followers of Jesus Christ. If you put all that together, the quality of love displayed between Christians is of such a quaility that even unsaved people can see how we love each other and mark us as Christians.

Too often though, love is set forth as a theory in our churches. It is something taught about but not often practiced. We talk about the things of the Spirit but we live in the flesh. But it is easy to live in the flesh. Living in the things of the Spirit is work. It is easier to default to the effortless way. We default to worldly behaviors.

But doctrine without application is worthless. Brothers and sisters, we need to stop being hearers of the word and begin to be doers. We need to be lovers of our neighbors, just like Jesus told us, and lovers of our Christian brethren above all. Isn't it about time?