Set an Example through Love!

Last week we discussed not letting anyone look down on us because of our youth. Instead, we are to be an example in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity (1 Timothy 4:12).

In the mid-week Bible study we focused on setting an example through love. Love is the one thing that should set Christians off from the rest of the world. It should be a mark that when people see it they say, "that person must be a Christian." Unfortunately, this is most often NOT how non-believers view Christians. Very often Christians are stereotyped as being judgmental, close-minded, and hypocritical. And honestly, there is probably some truth to that generalization.

Jesus made it very clear that love for God and love for people are the two most important things in the life of the believer (Mark 12:28-31). If we focused on obeying just those two commands all the other commands in the Bible would be obeyed. See, if we love people we would not steal from them, we would not murder them, we would not covet them, and we would not commit adultery against them. If we love God, we would not use his name in vain and we would not worship other gods. In fact, if we truly love God we would do whatever he told us to do (John 21:15).

So what does this kind of love look like? There are many places to look, 1 Corinthians 13, John 3:16, John 15:13 are all great verses to look at if you have time. However, I chose to look at 1 John 3 where it says this:
¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

There is no excuse for the Christians not to understand what love involves since we saw it clearly displayed in the one we claim to follow when he laid down his life for ours on the cross. Love is not simply a descriptive word to describe how we feel about something ("I love pizza", "I love the Redskins", "I love my wife") it involves action and it will most likely involve sacrifice. Not necessarily a sacrifice of your life (though that is not to be excluded) but a sacrifice of your desires, your priorities, your dreams, your comforts. Pretty much anything that can be labeled as "yours" because now the focus is not on "you", it is on God and others.

One final point about loving others that I think most people miss. Later on in 1 John 4, he makes the point that it is impossible to say that you love God, yet not love the people around you. See, how you treat and love others is a direct reflection on how much you really love God. Is it possible to love people and not love God? Yes. However, it is not possible to love God and not love the people around you. In fact, John says that anyone who makes that sort of claim is a liar. Ouch!

For me, that hits very close to home when I consider how I treat and often feel about other people. My challenge to you and to myself today is (1) to consider how much you love God and (2) consider how much you love the people around you. And remember, just saying that you love is not enough. It has to be evident. Think of it like this, if you were on trial for loving God and loving people; would you be convicted. Could the prosecution pull together enough witnesses and testimonies to convict you of loving God and loving people? I hope that they would.

The mark of the Christian is love, so set an example by demonstrating this love!