Creator, Father, King #342

If we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN a Chihuahua feeding worms to baby birds in a nest? Have you ever seen a tractor trailer taking flight as it rushes down an airport runway? Have you ever seen a newborn baby playing quarterback in the NFL?

No, of course not. That’s absurd. All these things are completely incompatible with each other.

So is the idea of a Christian who hates someone else. Listen to the strong words of the apostle John in his first epistle:

If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is still living in darkness.

Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.

If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.

John certainly didn’t mince words!

What’s It Mean?

In his first epistle, John spends a great deal of time talking about love. He uses the word “love” nearly fifty times. He talks about how “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and how we must love others.

The opposite of love, obviously, is hate, and John says those who claim to love God but hate others are “liars,” “murderers at heart,” and “living in darkness.” There is simply no place for both in a believer’s life.

It’s one thing to get frustrated at someone else. That’s natural in life. But we must be quick to extend forgiveness, never letting seeds of bitterness take root in our heart and blossom into full-blown jungles of hatred against others.

Examine your heart. As a Christian, loving God often comes easily, given all that he has done for us through his Son, Jesus Christ. But loving others isn’t always as simple. It involves humility, patience, self-control, and sacrifice. To say “I love God” one moment but then in another moment spit venomous hatred (or even think it) toward someone made in his image is hypocritical.

May God help us to love him and love others!

Now What?

Read James 3:1-12 for a reminder on how to use our speech to show love, not hatred, toward others.

Did You Know?

God doesn’t want us only to love “fellow believers.” Our love should extend to everyone.