The watermark of a true Christian! Watermark is a proof that something is not counterfeit, but real. Our question is what is the identifying mark of a Christian? Many believe that the command to “love our neighbor” is something which is first taught in the New Testament. However, when we read Old Testament, God has already given this commandment to the Israelites to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18) and furthermore to “love [the stranger] as yourself” (Lev. 19:34). Then why did Jesus say “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another…” (John 13:34). What is the newness in this already existing commandment? Only Adam and Eve ever experienced God’s love in person, when they were in Eden before the fall. After than man never witnessed the full manifestation of our heavenly Father’s love. Now in Christ incarnated the deep meaning of God’s love is revealed, through His selfless life and death for us. Actually God came down to earth to embrace the world in the arms of His love, because He is love (1 John 4:8). Jesus said “you love one another, as I have loved you”. Thus He gives a new measure for how much we have to love others. He revealed this true love, not only in His words, but also in His actions. He has demonstrated without any question of doubt the immensity of His love, on the cross. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). Jesus “did not come to be served, but to serve” (Matt. 20:28). From childhood to the cross, Jesus lived an unselfish life of loving service. His priority was always centered on other people, not on Himself. His willing hands were ever ready to relieve every case of suffering He perceived. He lovingly cared for those who were considered by society to be of little value, such as children, women, foreigners, lepers, and tax collectors. It is written “Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.” (Matt. 14:14) He was moved with compassion toward helpless individuals, such as the two blind men near Jericho (Matt. 20:34), a pleading leper (Mark 1:40-41), and a widow who had just lost her only son (Luke 7:12-13). Still a very important question remains, “who is our neighbor?” Most of the time man defines a neighbor as somebody who is close to him, either somebody near his house or somebody who belongs to his religious community or his race. This is where Jesus brought out the greatest revolution to the principle of love. Somebody as different as, or somebody whom you hate or try to distance from, a Samaritan is presented as the neighbor to the Israelite (Luke 10:30-37). Therefore basically, our neighbor is every person who needs our help. It is sure the message, Jesus tries to give to us is that we should consider every human being, regardless of his race or color or social standing as your neighbor and love, and do service to him. Through this parable Jesus tries to dismantle the petty differences man created based on race, color or religion. He preaches the universal equality of all human beings, and that all human beings should be loved and treated equally. The question we have to ask is not ‘what my neighbor will do to me?”, but “what I can do for the neighbor?” Jesus went far beyond the usual negative interpretation of this rule at that time: “do not do to others what you yourself dislike”. But He presented it in a positive way, addressing not only what we need to avoid but especially what we have to do. We need especially to remember that this principle does not tell us to treat others as they treat us. After all, it’s easy to be kind to those who are kind to us or nasty to those who are nasty to us; most people can do that. Instead, our love toward our neighbor should always be independent of the way our neighbor treats us. In every human being we have to see God’s presence. Jesus said “when you do this to this little ones, you have done this to me”. When we move along life’s way, how many different types of unfortunate people we see? Have we ever thought about this Jesus’ sentence? God created every human being in His image. Every human being was created destined to be the children of God. God loves every human being with His “eternal love”. Name of every human being is “written on His palm”. At the end time when we stand before God judgment seat (Matthew 25:31-46), the most important point on which we will be questioned will be the service we have rendered to other unfortunate human beings. Then Jesus, will not commend us for our eloquent sermons we have delivered, the valuable work we have done, or the generous donations we have given. Instead, Christ shall welcome those into heaven for the little caring things done to the least of His brethren. They were sure that they will enter the heaven because of their great deeds. “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” Although these are commendable deeds, without loving actions and words to fellow human beings, they are worthless. They professed to serve Christ, but the Lord never knew them (Matt. 7:23) because they never really loved Him or His brethren. As Paul said, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” (1 Cor. 13:3). When Jesus use the phrase “least of these My brethren” in (Matt. 25:40), it surely refers to His disciples or followers in general (Matt. 12:48-50). But the scope of Jesus’ phrase goes even further. Christ identifies Himself with every child of humanity. He is the Son of man, and thus a brother to every son and daughter of Adam, our eldest brother. The supreme proof of genuine Christianity is loving our enemies. Jesus taught this revolutionary idea, and thus established this high standard in contrast with the prevalent idea of His time – “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” (Matt. 5:3) “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.” (Luke 6:27-28). An adversary may show us enmity in three different ways: by a hostile attitude (“hate you”), through bad words (“curse you”) and with abusive actions (“spitefully use you” and “persecute you” [Matt. 5:44]). To this threefold expression of enmity, Christ instructs us to respond with three manifestations of love: doing good actions to them (do good to them), speaking well of them (bless them), and interceding to God for them (pray for them). The Christian’s answer to hostility and antagonism is to overcome evil with good (Rom. 12:21). According to Jesus, we need to live above the low standards of the world. Even sinners love each other, and even criminals help each other (Luke 6:32-35). Followers of Christ should live and love in a way superior to the virtue of the children of this world. Then only we can be called “sons of the Most High” (Luke 6:35), because God “is kind to the unthankful and evil.” We may think that Jesus’ teachings set such a high ideal of a selfless, loving life that most of us cannot attain, and we may feel discouraged. How can we, who are selfish by nature, love our neighbor unselfishly? Moreover, is it even possible for us to love our enemies? From a human point of view it seems utterly impossible. Our Lord would never ask us to love and serve those who are hateful and unlovable without providing us also with the means to accomplish it. In every command God gives there is a promise, the most positive, underlying the command. God has made provision that we may become like unto Him, and He will accomplish this for all those who submit their will to Him. We can love our enemies because God loved us first, even though we were His enemies (Rom. 5:10). When we daily reaffirm our acceptance of His loving sacrifice for us on the cross, His self-denying love pervades our lives. The more we realize and experience the Lord’s love for us, the more His love will flow from us to others, even to our enemies. Our daily need is not only to accept Christ’s death for us again but to surrender our will to Him and abide in Him (John 15:4-12). In the way Jesus Himself did not seek His own will but the will of the Father (John 5:30), so we need to depend on Jesus and His will. For without Him, we can do nothing. Remember once we daily “die ourselves”, and submit our will to Jesus, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20). Thus our egocentric life will miraculously turn into a selfless loving life. May God bless you to love others like Jesus did! Welcome to this page for more messages https://facebook/SomeTruthsThatYouShouldNotMiss
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 10:13:54 +0000
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