1 John 2:9-11
Sometimes
we need very practical examples of a concept in action. When we get the
practical example, then we can understand the abstract concept more fully. I
think this is what makes learning Algebra so difficult. It can be very hard to
find practical examples from everyday life that help explain algebraic
functions, at least not the life of the average high school student. Engineers and astrophysicists, yes, but salesman or
physician, no. Then when you throw in mom and truck driver, and a thousand
other ordinary jobs, algebraic functions might as well be an alien language
that fell from the sky. I has no real impact on our lives. To put it another
way, when was the last time you did an algebraic function equation to solve
something in your life? I thought so. Although, my algebra teacher son might
take offense at this.
John
has been talking about the vital necessity of someone who claims to have a
relationship with the LORD doing what they believe. Obedience to God’s clear
direction is an outward sign that the Holy Spirit lives within. But some might
say, “But what does this look like?” This is the kind of question that new
believers often need answered. They want to put their newfound faith into
action, but they lack practical examples.
Newly
married couples often have problems because the families in which they were
raised didn’t work very well. Often conflict and divorce were part of the mix.
Drugs and alcohol muddied the waters. Absent parents or unknown parents make
future success in marriage much more difficult. So newly married couples need
older couples to watch and copy.
John
knows that his readers need some practical examples of what commandment keeping
looks like applied in everyday life. And so John provides just such an example.
The example centers around relationships between fellow Jesus-followers. In
John’s example the love-hate continuum is the measurement instrument. And in
typical John fashion, there is no middle ground. Only the ends of the continuum
exist. You either love or you hate. There is no part love, part hate
possibility.
How
we treat each other as believers says a lot about our relationship with
forgiveness. If we don’t forgive, then perhaps we don’t understand the full
extent of our own sinfulness and utter lostness apart from God’s grace found in
Jesus. Maybe we still cling to some illusion that we really aren’t so bad after
all. Maybe we are a little better than that other person. Maybe we deserve
something other than Hell.
This
love for others is one of the cornerstones of Christian belief and behavior.
Jesus said that people would know His disciples by the love they displayed for
one another. Love was the identifying mark. Without the mark, there was no
identification with Jesus. And love shows up in our words, our attitudes and
our actions. We can’t claim love and then rail against fellow believers, even
if we disagree with their politics, economic policies, attitudes toward wealth
and poverty, or even their membership in the real 1%, those who have served in
the US Military.
If
people watched a movie of us in action, would they see love?