Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
The Bible says some amazing things about love. It says,
We know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love. God is love. Those who live in love live in God, and God lives in them (1 John 4:16). If this is the case, then it’s possible that some Christians don’t have as much God in them as they think they do, and actually some unbelievers that are loving may have more God in them than some Christians who are unloving.
If this is true, then it puts religion on it’s head, which Christ came to do, and shows that the man-made doctrines of what we think about God, when played out in the real world, though they are true theoretically may not be the truth in application. For example, you say “Christ is in me” but you’re a jerk and think evil, hateful thoughts about everyone who doesn’t agree with you, is Christ ACTUALLY in you, in that moment? He is with you all the time, but is it HIm who is living out through you in that moment? Hmmmmmm.
Now don’t get me wrong, Christians that profess Jesus have Him living within them. No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). But the degree to which they have a revelation of Christ being love, that depends on their personal walk with Christ through the Holy Spirit.
For example, if you have Christ living inside of you, then why are you hateful, to, say, gay’s? Don’t you know that only real genuine love, truth, and acceptance can change a person’s heart from reprobated, hard as rock heart to being softened by the Biblical truth found in Christianity?
Why do people have to hate, if they have God in them? Of course, there are certain things which God hates. But that is for God to hate, are you God? Of course, we are testaments and witnesses to God here on earth, but who are you to point the finger? Though we uphold the law, is it your job to carry out the judgement of the law?
The great self-help mind Dale Carnegie once said, “Even god doesn’t propose to judge a man till his last days, why should you and I?” If you think it’ll help something for the purpose of winning souls to Christ, then go for it – but if pointing the finger will do more harm than good, then just let it go.
“Just let it go? WTH are you saying Mark (my name), you heretic!” I can hear it now. My point is that we need to take a good hard look at ourselves before we try to go around teaching in the name of Jesus, or representing Him in any way that’s not of Christ. Because if we raise strife’s, quarrels, and fighting about various things which are moot to the purposes of God, then what? How will that help hearken souls to the calling of Christ and bring people towards repentance? Most already know that sin is bad and sin can and will take them to hell if they continue in it – this will never be wrong, but the way you say it, that will determine and dictate whether they received the message of Christ’s love surpassing anything this world has to offer.
Don’t let what other people think about God dictate what you think, what you know, about our Almighty creator through your own personal relationship with Him. If you know the Truth, cling to it. Spread it. It’s only then that others can see Him in you. Don’t try to regurgitate someone else’s bread, someone else’s word, but instead, give them the fresh manna you received – what Christ has personally shown you, or told you, as of recent. That may more to them than second hand words. They’ll be able to see Christ’s abiding in you – hopefully that will spur them to holy jealousy (Romans 11:14).
There is so many denominations, sub-denominations, churches, religious movements, because God is so big, so great, that there’s many aspects to know of Him. Each of us have different revelations of Him. Quite like how your hand and your knee have different revelations as to how they are to function in your body. They both belong to you, and you belong to Christ, but both your hand and your knee know limited things within their respective assignment – to grab things and to move your legs, respectively.
Your realization of Christ is a paradigm shift. What I consistently see between those illuminated to the love of God, and those who just don’t get it – is that those who know God have been spiritually awakened to a relationship with Him. Those who just don’t get it are blinded by religion and the ways of this world. It’s not about an ideology as much as it is about a relationship, a true living relationship, that leads to a reformation of the mind, which then changes a person’s ideology.
People that don’t understand Jesus are asking the wrong questions, instead of “why is this guy, Jesus, God?” to others around them, the question they should be asking is “Jesus, show me why/if you are God?” People that are too busy judging Christianity as a religion are judging by what they see around them, instead of looking up towards Him, or looking within, at themselves, deeply and soberly enough to realize they are deeply flawed, displaced sinners, in need of a savior. His name is Jesus.
The quarrelling is ridiculous. We can at times make a fool of Christ, the head of the body, to others, by being disjointed body parts trying to tell other people what to do or what we know about Christ when they are really not the same body part as us. Imagine if some preacher tried to show a prophet how to preach, or a prophet tried to teach an evangelist to prophesy, saying “this is the way you show Christ”. No, we have our own unique functions.
It’s time to start taking a step out and telling people the Truth you know, not by following a formula, but by giving what it is YOU have for THEM. This is YOUR faith walk, and will resonate more with people, I bet, than you trying to give another person’s message about Christ. There’s a reason God brings everyone to us. We may affect others in one way or another, so we might as well tell them about the Jesus we know.
Who knows? You might win some precious backslidden soul back to Christ, in which case all of heaven will throw a celebration.
But if you harbor negative thoughts, judgements, towards the person and the way they’re living their life, it’s better to stay silent and pray for that person (in your mind) than speak what you think they should be doing and ruin the moment, creating strife, and divisions. As Christ says, woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes (Matthew 18:7).
So lets try to be more understanding for what God has shown us in our lives. Don’t forget the grace that God has given you, because there has been plenty of forgiveness in the past. Don’t you think you should forgive others, if Christ has forgiven you of all your follies?
I recently heard this quote by Blaise Pascal, “To understand is to forgive.” Are you having trouble forgiving anyone about what they’ve done? Then seek God, ask Him to give you understanding on the specific area – you might find out that you had a lot more in common with that person than you thought, and what you thought was pure evil on their part was simply a manifestation of being hurt by another person long ago. Don’t wait to understand to forgive – but as you forgive, and pray for your enemy, as Christ said, you may find out why they did they did. Forgiveness may turn into empathy as the Spirit of Understanding comes to pay you a visit.
Remember that “who you forgive is forgiven, who you don’t forgive is not forgiven,” (John 20:23). This should make the fear of God rise up within you, do you want to be the reason another person you couldn’t forgive is damned? What would it mean for you if another person is damned because you couldn’t find it within yourself to forgive them? Hm… sounds like a spiritual entanglement, to me.
If you are trying to be and embody love, try taking those same verses from 1 Corinthians and inserting your name, or “I’. For instance,
I am patient.
I am kind.
I am not jealous.
I am not boastful.
I am not proud.
I am not rude.
I do not demand my own way.
I am not irritable.
I keep no record of being wronged.
I do not rejoice about injustice.
I rejoice whenever the truth wins out.
I never give up.
I never lose faith.
I am always hopeful.
I endure through every circumstance.
OR –
Mark is patient.
Mark is kind.
Mark is not jealous.
Mark is not boastful.
Mark is not proud.
Mark is not rude.
Mark does not demand his own way.
Mark is not irritable.
Mark keeps no record of being wronged.
Mark does not rejoice about injustice.
Mark rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
Mark never gives up.
Mark never loses faith.
Mark is always hopeful.
Mark endures through every circumstance.
Thank you for reading 🙂
- Lovingly, Edgar Mark Sotomayor
MARK SOTOMAYOR 