You'll Know Them Because They Love One Another...

[Robbie]

When I first started going to church I was taught you could know a christian because they didn't do this or didn't do that... because they studied their bible... they went to church... they tithed... they didn't cus... and on and on...

The one thing no one ever told me was that the way you really know the people that are taught by Jesus is because they Love one Another... yet after reading Jesus Words I realized that was how He said people would know who we are... because we'd Love each other...

What's everyone's experience with that?

Were you taught that the way people would know that you were of Him was because we'd have Love for each other?

or were you taught like me?

 

[[email protected]]

I don't go to church to get a warm and fuzzy feeling from the congregation.
I don't go to church to enjoy the music, which sometimes isn't that good anyway.
I don't go to church to have my ears tickled by a great sermon.

"People don't go to church to see a man on fire for God.
They go to watch him burn."
-Brother Bob Harrington Chaplain of Bourbon Street

I don't go to church to warm the cockles of my heart.

I go to church to worship God.

If you go for any reason other than that, then quit. You're wasting your time.

Love is over rated today.
It is NOT the most important thing in the world.
God's forgiveness IS.

Don't get me wrong.
It's nice to feel welcome and it's great to feel comfortable with people that aren't necessarily out to stab you in the back or cheat you out of money.
BUT
If you make love the primary consideration, sooner or later you are liable to be disappointed by somebody who is just plain human......like you.

Keep it simple. Keep it focused.

Keep it JESUS.

 

[aspen]

I don't go to church to get a warm and fuzzy feeling from the congregation.
I don't go to church to enjoy the music, which sometimes isn't that good anyway.
I don't go to church to have my ears tickled by a great sermon.

"People don't go to church to see a man on fire for God.
They go to watch him burn."
-Brother Bob Harrington Chaplain of Bourbon Street

I don't go to church to warm the cockles of my heart.

I go to church to worship God.

If you go for any reason other than that, then quit. You're wasting your time.

Love is over rated today.
It is NOT the most important thing in the world.
God's forgiveness IS.

Don't get me wrong.
It's nice to feel welcome and it's great to feel comfortable with people that aren't necessarily out to stab you in the back or cheat you out of money.
BUT
If you make love the primary consideration, sooner or later you are liable to be disappointed by somebody who is just plain human.

All of this is window-dressing - it is politeness. It has nothing to do with what Robbie is saying at all. It is sad to see some confuse being polite and politically correct (all important in its own right) with Christian Charity. Jesus preached love - it is the only thing that makes us truly human.

 

[Robbie]

Jesus said the way people would know us is because we love each other so to say Love is over rated isn't in agreement with Jesus... the Pharisees worshiped God and didn't have God's Love or Word in them according to Jesus... so to say worship is #1 is also false...

God is Love so I would say Love is the most important thing in the world... it was Jesus commandment... Jesus didn't say, "A new commandment I give to you... that you worship God" Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you... that you Love one another"

So I asked for a sharing of experiences of whether you were taught in church that Love wasn't the most important thing... by your response I guess you did kind of indirectly answer my question...

Jesus said Love is #1... He's my only teacher...

Hope this blesses you...
Robbie

 

[amadeus]

You are certainly right, Robbie, in finding that Love is the most important thing. Jesus thought so!

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matt 22: 37-39

As to forgiveness, if we are forgiven by God it is because of His love for us. If He didn't love us, why would He forgive us when we have continuously trodden His beloved Son underfoot?

Then again...

"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love ." I Cor 13:13

 

[Robbie]

I've found that Jesus is always right... the best I can do is simply agree = )

I've had to learn that lesson the hard way over and over again...

 

[aspen]

You know, I do not think I have ever been taught directly from church that love is not the most important thing.......it is only from a small number of Christians in the news or online that preach this message - which is usually: It is more important to prove my doctrinal position than to connect with or love the person I am talking with