Yesterday, I gave someone a something and well it became something else! Even Jesus ate with Judas and David said thou preparest a table before in the presence of my enemies.
6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, 7 gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), 8 do not yield to them or listen to them. Show them no pity. Do not spare them or shield them. 9 You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people. 10 Stone them to death, because they tried to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again. Deuteronomy 13: 6-1
I just am starting to think that God is using my life as an experiment to turn someone back to him. However, I am just in the thick for a decision to made and let me get on with my life.
1 [a]If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. Deuteronomy 13: 12
The attempt to create an alternative object of worship drives human beings into idol worship. Most people, even so – called Christians, do not know when and where to draw the line in their relationship with friends and relatives who have signed up to this repugnant way of life.
Because they seek to be nice (which I was) and remain in the good books of everyone, they allow their friends and neighbors to draw them into idol worship. They lack the knowledge and courage to avoid relationships and friendships that will lead them to the dine with devils.
While Christians are not expected to be detached completely from the communities where they live and are to freely interact and associate with others. Apostles Paul by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit here sets a limit to the extent of such relationships. In this passage, Christians are thus admonished to apply wisdom in order to avoid cultural influences and traditional practices that have the undertone of idol worship. They should be knowledgeable enough and courageous to shun idolatrous festivities and sacrifices. Taking part in these feasts amount to having fellowship with devils.
1 Corinthians 10: 20 'But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils'.
Although we must support religious tolerance for peaceful co-existence, that does not warrant the believer to support idolatrous and satanic worship. We are not to sanction and approve their practices nor give any form of support, whether monetary or technical to them.
When we refuse to participate in their worship, it also helps the light of Christ in us to shine more brightly and lead them to find the true path to the worship of the living God mediated through Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life!
Getting involved with idolatrous practices contaminates our fellowship with God.
5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from[c] faith for his name’s sake. Faith comes from believing and obeying God.
Again, the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”. Gods anger is seen repeatedly here again. So, he used his shepherd David to bring down judgement on Israel and so in verse 15 “The Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. 16 When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
When people do not fear the lord again, He tries correction, discipline and then judgement. Romans 1: 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
People think it’s a joke and well warnings are seldom heeded. The first cause of this is:
They knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.
Consequences
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Watch and pray, Jesus said lest the days come upon you unaware.
Let me fall under the hand of God, for his mercy is great.
Jeremiah 25:29 New International Version 29 See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name, and will you indeed go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword on all who live on the earth, declares the Lord Almighty.’
On December 25th, 1908, a newspaper published a parody against God, daring Him to make Himself known by sending an earthquake. Three days later, the city and its surrounding district were devastated by a terrible quake that killed 84,000 people! Payday is coming someday for all. It is the duty of the Christian to prepare for God’s judgement.
The passage under consideration unveils the decision of God against Babylon. Babylon would be anyone could do about it. Jeremiah was to warn of this impending judgement. He was also assigned by God to inform people that the cup of his wrath was soon to be poured on Israel (the church) and other nations like Egypt, Edom and the Philistines (the power nations at the time).
Judgement is coming. God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world for her sins. The present world system will not escape the judgement of God.
Though they dig down to the depths below, from there my hand will take them. Though they climb up to the heavens above, from there I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there I will hunt them down and seize them. Though they hide from my eyes at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them. Amos 9: 2-3
All human deeds are on record of man will be judged. Every thought (good or bad) will be brought to light. Boys and girls, and all adults of every race and in every continent will face the consequences of their professions.
This treatment we give to the word of God will determine our eternal destiny. Therefore, believers should not relax in their evangelistic outreaches because the judgement of God remains unchanging for all unrepentant souls from generation to generation. Persecutors of gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ will not escape the wrath of God except they repent. The train of God’s is important for all and sundry to be prepared.
With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus. Luke 1: 3
In an article on “Evangelizing the Upper Class’, Ellen White asked the pertinent question, ‘We talk and write much about the neglected poor, should some attention not also be given to the neglected rich?’ Social stratification may create social barriers, but the preaching of the gospel is to every creature social barrier, but the preaching of the gospel is to every creature – nobles and commoners. The upper class in every society is usually composed of men and women of power and influence.
they are often neglected in the area of evangelism for personal and social reasons.
Our text educates us on the need to reach out to the people in the upper echelons in the society. Luke wrote this epistle primarily to Theophilus. seen also in Acts 1. Theophilus, a noble man, an influential personality in that society. The first thing to note is the commonality of the preacher and his audience. The letter was written by Luke, the beloved physician (Colossians 4: 14) to ‘most excellent Theophilus’, whose title suggests that he was a member of the upper class or a noble.
Luke, judging from his profession, was not a poor man or a nonentity. The first lesson is that the members of the upper class should intensify the efforts to reach out to their peers.
The second lesson is the choice of appropriate method of teaching/evangelism. Luke wrote an epistle to Theophilus. The strategy is still appropriate to reach the nobles or members of the upper class who most likely live in gated estates and government reserved areas. Many of them also travel frequently. The privilege of letter writing in this digital age is limitless as distance is no longer a barrier.
Our text also outlines the qualities of a good soul-winner. He or She must be soundly converted, well-informed, persuaded and have competence to present the gospel convincingly.
Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. - Luke 9:26-27
There is a case between a bus driver and a car owner, that happened on my way to work. The bus guy sort of jammed the car owner badly behind his car. Knowing he could not pay for the guy’s car repair, the bus owner had to beg for mercy with the car owner, there was an uproar as people expected the owner of the car to forgive as he was richer this time not in love but in monetary value.
Grace comes at a cost to someone else. The guy with the bashed car was going to have to use his money and time to repair a car damaged by someone else because he had decided to forgive, while the bus driver is to go remembering he had been shown mercy and he should do the same to others. Sometimes, we also forget that the grace of God comes at an expense of Christ suffering that we never care to ponder on the sufferings of others as long as we are free.
Grace truly is made available, so we can see God’s love clearly. Grace is at the expense of Christ suffering; every time we receive Grace it is at the expense of Christ dwelling in another to suffer for another!
and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Hebrew 6:6
He was already hunged, in rags and thorns despised by men because he chooses to forgive us and love us. And when we don’t understand this, it’s very comfortable for us to go on subjecting God to public disgrace.
This is why some Christians deny the Christian belief, because they are ashamed of being associated with Gods word. It’s like a man who is ashamed of his car or his wife. Christ is our very identity. Once we tell people we are ashamed of Christ, it means we are not certain of his love, and we fear being associated with him. Simon Peter did this when he denied Jesus, he was ashamed to be associated with Jesus when they were crucifying him but vouched his love for him at the table.
If we are ashamed of Christ, that is who we are; we can stand for him and there is fear in us to be able to defend him, and fear is weakness. In fact, if we are ashamed of anyone, we cannot love them. Some tell me wait, and I’m like that a position I can do but as wait while you do what! When we wait on God it is expectancy and holiness, so faith moves from fear. But when we sin it born out unbelief and fear and that is not faith. Yes, we all fail and stumble but do we continue in sin so grace may abound.
As we preach the gospel of Christ, some say we should wait for them to mature and that’s valid. But if the bridegroom cometh and we have no oil as we wait, what do we do. Plus, we wait in the presence of God, where our strength doesn’t grow weary and walking or standing doesn’t make us faint. We don’t wait outside the presence of God. So, then we can wait for people to mature but there is a harvest and field ready for soul, which the laborers are few and the harvest of souls requires oil in our lamp. A thing that if we are ashamed of the gospel of Christ how can there be oil in our lamp. Let us examine ourselves today.
The love is long-suffering, it is kind, the love doth not envy, the love doth not vaunt itself, is not puffed up. 1 Corinthians 13: 4
When I was young, we played a game called “Mario” in a friend’s place. He had a brother called “Luigi” by the way. And these characters had what they called “Lives”. The lives they had was an indication of when they fell into traps or pit or the enemy’s hands and die. So, one had to have fallen or failed a number of times before you actually die. Now the knowledge of the player that when your life is getting shorter and shorter you panic, and most times make mistake. So, I saw the less you panic and remained focused you’d eventually not lose your life.
When we can so confident, we can walk with our abilities we fall. 1 Corinthians 10: 12
Now, we call this phenomenon in the bible spiritual life’s, it’s not seen but it exists. Luigi and Mario cannot see the lives they have left but we the controller see it. similarly, we do not see the mercy of God, but God shows us anyway when we recover lives on the way, do some good deeds to pick up more hearts and increase our life span. So, now the knowledge that God sees our lives means he more capable of warning us when we are headed to the wrong path. we seldom take this for granted because he is patient and therefore enduring long in suffering towards our SINS.
How so, God is not willing that anyone should perish, When God told Adam that the day he sinned he would die. It is true, the day Mario falls he dies and loses lives. But then Adam was not conscious of his sin yet because the knowledge of sin had not dawned on him. Children are like that; they sometimes don’t know that they are sinning until you make them know it’s bad for them. Genesis 2: 17. So, because its ignorant sin, it doesn’t count so to speak against man because he does not know. So, Adam lived 930 years. So, more knowledge more sorrow as Solomon said; why we now open to our human condition. But when the law came through Moses the knowledge of sin was revived so man knew he was in sin man’s years reduced to 120 years. This is why the Lord asks us to be wise to what is good and simple to that which is evil. Because the day you know sin from people around you, if you are not willing to kill your flesh you will do sin, leading you to death. Now, Adam did not die immediately because back then the knowledge of sin is not as much as now. So, he lived 930 years. He death spiritually as with Mario’s case was slow because he did not know sin and fall often. By the time we reach Moses era we had passed Noah where man’s knowledge of sin had greatly increased. So, the law was brought to make man see his sin’s hoping he’d repent but this was not effective as man’s heart had not changed. Yielding more sins, so even the best in the bible had sins, showing mankind’s inability to hold or help himself from sin.
New International Version in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last. 1 Thessalonians 2: 16
So, some people are like Mario who keep falling but sometimes they do good to increase their life span and return back to sin until they eventually physically die.
1 Timothy 6:17-19 The Message (MSG) Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.
So, the rich gain some sort of lives by doing good as seen above. But in this we see the face on the lord through his emotions i.e. wrath in 1 Thessalonians 2: 16, when people keep heaping sins upon sin thinking the grace of God is a license to sin. This is why Solomon said King James Version 16 Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself? 17 Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?
So as Man from was trying to understand God UNDER the law, he acted as our parents, if you do this you will get this, however if you do this you don’t get this like reinforcement learning. But through the Old Testament, man started through the face of his servant began to know God’s likes and dislikes and God saw we didn’t understand he did this out of love, and his heart towards even in anger was good, because like us God could be displeased.
Most times, God judgement fell on man when he made mistakes in his presence – the 10 commandments given, the ark of the Lord with the Philistine and Eli, the ark of covenant with Uzziah, this very presence within the ark that man grieved which brought judgement in Man is the spirit of God, within the inner chamber of the ark of covenant. This covenant is reenacted through Jesus’ blood and dwells in us as the “Holy Spirit”.
But as with the Holy Spirit our helper as gentle as he can be grieved when not heard. As with when it is revealed.
20 “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms:
“‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’[e]
and,
“‘May another take his place of leadership.’[f]
21 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, 22 beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”
Can be grieved when ignored. And once, we lose his presence he does not return back. Hence, Davids cry that God should not take his presence from him. So, the face of God is seen through his son and his son speak to us by his spirit within us (new covenant), however in the Old Testament the face of God was revealed through his judgement. As seen in the lives of
30 “Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. 1 Samuel 2: 30
Because Eli’s sons slept with women at the temple see 1 Samuel 2: 22 “Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting”. They treated the lord offering and servants with contempt: 1 Samuel 2: 17 This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they[b] were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt. So, Gods judgement was:
30 “Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. 31 The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age, 32 and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age. 33 Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at my altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.
34 “‘And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day. 35 I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always. 36 Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread and plead, “Appoint me to some priestly office so I can have food to eat.”’”
While God is slow to anger, not willing that any should perish. While he does not reward man according to his deeds, he rewards according to the path or Way we choose to take as with Hophni and Phineas, he does weigh deeds and actions a person takes to reward us. As the devil keeps accusing us daily (as with people), until we die spiritually to a point of no return, we may never understand we have lost Gods presence, because we have mistaken long suffering which is the love of God as a license to sin rather than the grace to overcome sin. Eli was certainly pardoned many times until God choose a replacement!
New International Version When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly like you. But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you. Psalm 50: 21
We are after all justified by our words not judged by it or by his blood, but we should remember that “God is not a man that he should change his mind neither is the son of man that he should lie” when we see the judgement of God, he will not relent on his judgement. we have seen it in the Old Testament with prophet like Habakkuk asking God to relent from his anger, but God didn’t.
And this is the writing that was written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.
26 This is the interpretation of the thing: Mene; God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it.
27 Tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. Hebrews 12:16–17
Esau cursed his inheritance and became justified by his words then took actions to sell it. This is why prostitutes are akin to fornicator, they sell their temple for meat (money) in the Old Testament. May God help us in Jesus’ name.
Songs:
Colossians 3:12-20 12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as* Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Synapsis:
At times we attempt to justify our sins by other people’s sins or actions because we don’t want to change. You won’t be justified by others sin but by the cross and the blood of Jesus. If we all choose to sin and justify it, we are heaping up sin and Gods wrath will surely come.
Recently, a family member I knew was having a birthday. So, she had a Jewish son who clearly asked me out, but I thought he was not just my kind too shy and other things I had noticed. So, I gave her a gift and she sent a bigger gift. And at first, I taught it was I gave freely she gave back. Until I realized she placed a demand on it. People are crazy! No wonder my mother was fuming. SO, I see she the demand this woman placed was for her son. You should never help your son to find a wife. Another thing is men who want certain women are characterless men! who want reward without having to working for it. I read yesterday this scripture came to me:
5So Moses brought their case before the Lord, 6and the Lord said to him, 7“What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them.
Now this woman, I know can be very off standish and sometimes arrogant, but why look for someone you do not like to marry your son! So, while I was busy giving freely, she was placing a demand on her giving. Women are vicious, I wondered why she said the verse to me about my mom that after all “If your enemy is hungry, feed him” she clearly was fighting evil with good.
The worse part of this nightmare is “I still opened Boaz married his relative, the woman was enacting laws based on her giving”. We will remedy that problem. Because at first, I taught my mother was crazy, only now do I understand. Other women are even crazier. She is using the book of the law because her husband is Jewish, and I will use the book of the law and the book of love to bind tighter strings.
When Israel sinned because of Eli’s son, it caused their enemies to have a foothold over Israel and thus leading to the Phillistine taking the ark of the LORD, a covenant had not been made with God at this time, so it was the ark of the LORD signifying his presence with Israel.
Now the bible says: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Romans 8: 14, 16. So, we see the spirit of God bearing witness with our human spirit that we are the sons of God. Our human spirit bears guilt and the holy spirit convicts/reveal to us, what is wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment. Sometimes, your conscience condemns you of guilt when it is not, sometimes it is, and you know this by the spirit of God. So, if you are guilty 1 Corinthians 11: 18, 22 comes to play. Guilt may be ascribed to sins; you did not know of, or you know of but when you realize it makes you feel condemned/judged.
Now the ark of the Lord was in the territory of the Phillistine for a month; in that month plagues had struck them and their leaders. But they couldn’t understand why? The had a god called Daegon placed near the ark of the Lord, they were guilty of idolatry, but they didn’t know. So, a plague of mice was destroying their country, and a plague of death was destroying their leaders. However, the Phillistine remembering the plague that happened to Egypt: took precautionary measures to offer a guilt offering of 5 gold tumors for their leaders and 5 gold rats for their leaders, placed it on a cart and tied it to cow: placed on the path to two roads one leading to Beth Shemesh and the other elsewhere. The leaders in Phillistine concluded that if the cart went the way to Beth Shemesh, then it was the Lord of Israel that brought the plague on them, else it was thing of chance. And so, the cart wen the way of Beth Shemesh, leading to Kiriath Jearim, a territory in Israel. The people of Israel rejoiced upon seeing it return.
A foreign nation unaware of the impact of taking the ark of the Lord and placing it where their god was incurred the judgement of God. Because a guilt they did not know about but used the experience with the Egyptians to solve their problem. 1 Corinthians 11: 27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
Sometimes, we as Christians sin by speech, disobeying God without knowing it, sometimes we know it by willful pride disobey. Hence, when we take the communion and don’t examine ourselves for sins and confess them to remember what the blood of Jesus does for us as our sin offering (this act help us reflect on the mercy of God and thus how undeserving we are).
For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 1 Corinthians 11: 29 - 30
So, sickness here is akin to a plague as in 1 Samuel 6 vs 9, and in Exodus 20 plague of sickness and death of the first-born son. So, while the communion if partook worthily has undeniable blessing attached to it, if partaken unworthily incurs a plague like sickness. Now, it furthers states “Now if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”
The Phillistine was disciplined as the Israelites as will you and I, if we do not examine ourselves. It is my prayer; we check ourselves as we partake of the communion.
This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
Songs:
Examining ourselves.
Even in a court of law, the jury can find the defendant guilty of a crime only if the defendant is convicted of wrongdoing. The same works with our conscience and the spirit of God. Only the spirit of God helps us recognize what is sin, righteousness and judgement. The is why Grace is given to us to live above sin.
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” - Isaiah 52:7
The hour had come for Jesus to leave the world and go to the father. Jesus said, “I love my OWN in the world”, and he loved them to the very end. As the evening meal commenced the devil prompted Judas to betray Jesus.
Jesus knew (who he was that would deceive him); that the father had put all things under his power, as he came from God and is returning to God; so, he began to wash the feet of his disciples. Jesus said to Simon unless he washed Simon, he had no part with him. Not everyone was clean, so Jesus asked them to wash their feet to determine, who was unclean and was going to betray him and that’s why he said not everyone was clean (verse 11). Jesus said, “you call me a teacher and lord, so we should do as he does and wash one another’s feet’s”. He has set an example that we should do (verse 15).
John 13:16-17 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
so, the scripture is fulfilled “He who shared my bread has turned against me”. Jesus says: Whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me (Jesus) and whoever accepts Jesus accepts the one who sent them (you).
Jesus being troubled in the spirit, still said God be glorified in his suffering and because of this the lost glory of Adam is returned to Christ, he who dwells in us by his spirit. This new command Jesus left was that we love one another as he loved us (verse 34). By this is how we know you are Christ disciples, if you love one another. This is where Jesus predicted Simon peter would deny him before the cock crows, three times, because he claimed he would follow Christ, but Simon failed to keep on his word.
Songs:
How beautiful are these feet shod with the gospel of peace.
John 13: 35 By this all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
By experience, whenever there are genuine products, there are bound to be counterfeits. These counterfeits tend to appear genuine to the eyes of the undiscerning. This is because they take so much resemblance to the original and genuine. The major difference, however, is that they are of low quality and standard and may not function effectively as the original. Counterfeit products cause a lot of damage. They cause heavy financial loss to manufacturers of original products and a lot of harm and loss to the end-users.
As Jesus addressed his disciples in the bible passage for today preparatory to his disciples in the bible passage for today preparatory to his departure from them, he commands them to love one another genuinely. Love, according to him is the proof that will identify them as his disciples and attract others to their fold. It is what will mark them out as being genuine and not fake.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to find true Christians whose lifestyles match their claims. Expectedly, the world is getting more confused about what Christianity is all about because of the apparent contradictions they observe in their lives of so many professing believers because the true proof of the Christian faith is absent.
This does not take away from the fact that there are so many genuine Christians around. One piece of evidence that marks selfless and enduring love. Where this is operational, there will be an absence of envy, vainglory, slandering, backbiting, backstabbing, immorality, cheating, hatred etc. This kind of love will authenticate the gospel and fuel the spread of God’s word.
Love is one Christian dialect that the world wants to understand.
