The Proof is in the Pudding: Relationships are Everything
My premise is this: If you love your Lord then this will naturally work itself out in your love for those around you.
Dear Friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8
As I am well into the grey hair years one thing is becoming increasingly clear to me. Relationships are what it is all about and it is relationships that provide the richness in the Christian life. It is quite true that our life as a believer can be distilled down to the truth that we have a personal relationship with the living God. We are an incurable God-lover and this is the result of the work of the Spirit in our lives that every believer experiences (Romans 8:5-14, 1 Peter 1:8, Romans 6:17-18). This work of the Spirit will cause us to love those around us. Relationships in the Lord become for the believer that which makes life rich.
The two great commandments in Matthew 22:37-40 state :
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. ‘
This is how it works. We are first to love our Lord and then this love for Him works itself out in our love for others. This is what I call the “proof of the pudding.” This is the visible evidence that we are truly loving our Lord. It is possible to study much about the Lord and his word but yet not grow in our love for Him. I am writing this short blog to encourage you to consider what your study of Scripture, your time of prayer, your times of meditation on the word, are producing in your life. If you say that you are growing in Him and yet not growing in your love for others then something is wrong. I teach theology and therefore view it as very important in the life of the believer. But… the mark of a new heart is not pristine pure theology, but rather an ever growing love for others.
By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35
Beware of a false sense of growth in the Christian life. If you have broken relationships with those around you and you are not being driven to mend those relationships then your time of study and prayer is being done in the wrong way. True growth in the Lord will always result in a greater love for those around us. Remember that the “proof is in the pudding.”
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John 13:35 is indeed the “acid test”, Geoff; whether it’s aptly applied depends on whether it’s understood that “one another” refers to believers (I assume you concur!). While we believe the best about those we love, the most unloving thing we can do for anyone is fail/refuse to be our Lord’s conduit as He draws His elect to Him … do you concur?
Mike ~
I’ll just mention here that it’ll be a couple of weeks before I “get to” Hebrews 6:9 – 11; I, too, eagerly anticipate such! I expect to refer (and link) to KERRY KINCHEN’s book within my next entry as his study of to whom the Writer addressed his teaching is quite edifying!
Phil ~
Thanks; once it’s done, yes. John Piper’s presentation regarding William Tyndale is moving; have you watched it?
To “bookend” my comment: “To be above with the saints we love, oh, won’t that be glory. To live below with the saints we know, well, that’s another story”. Therein lies the rub — if indeed they are saints, the koinonia is unmistakably sweet.
Jim, I do concur with you.
Geoff, I concur with your thoughts, and I have come to believe that all of the Christian life is a subset of loving God and loving people. And the “greatest” commandment must come first … leading naturally to the second, as you suggest.
As I wrestle to understand and live this, how to do the second commandment is pretty clear. Learning/understanding/doing the greatest commandment is much more of a challenge. Beyond Jn 14:21, etc. Again, I think it comes down to relationship … this time with our heavenly Abba.
Your thoughts / suggestions / recommendations?
-Mark
Geoff, how about a post on what real love looks like? Where the horizontal relationship is informed by the truth of the vertical?
Jim, I haven’t seen that presentation. I once saw a film called “God’s outlaw” on Tyndale. I can’t remember much about it.
Phil
Mark, Every believer naturally loves his Lord (1 Peter 1:8). But we do need to slow down and to talk to him and reflect on life from his point of view (Romans 12:2). The business of life, which is a cultural sin in our society, keeps us from cultivating our love relationship with our Lord.