After all these centuries we have not learned how to live together in peace. The natural man is selfish, proud, and cruel. He prefers himself above all others. He uses or abuses people to get what he wants. He is a lover of pleasure rather than lover of God. Consequentially our society is troubled by racism, cronyism, chauvinism, nepotism, prejudice, partiality, etc. Politics is a good example of man’s rotten behavior. It is sickening! But as awful as it is, I see something even more troubling. Over and over again I observe the same type of behavior in professing Christians.
A study of all the “one another” statements in the Bible tells us how we should relate to one another, but we fail miserably. People neglect and ignore those they should love the most and nearly break their neck being nice to those they can use to satisfy some selfish desire. While they fawn over some and stroke their ego because it will benefit them in some way, they hardly speak at all to others. They smother some with affection and hold others at arms length. They lend a helping hand to those who can return the favor in some manner and use others as a door-mat. They are “Johnny-on-the-spot” for some and treat others like they have the plague. It is absolutely sickening to see how sinfully selfish we are.
We sing, “I’ll tell the world that I’m a Christian“, but maybe we should first convince our neighbor or our family–they probably have a different idea. I wonder why! Our rotten behavior has made the glorious gospel repulsive to others. We boast about our great love for Christ and then treat our own family worse than strangers. It is no wonder that some have given up on church and labelled Christians as hypocrites. They are hurt, and for good reason. If anyone has out done the politicians when it comes to rotten behavior it is people like that.
Were I to ask if you love your family or friends everyone would answer in the affirmative– after all it would be embarrassing not to do so. But sometimes the evidence says just the opposite. Anyone can say, “I love you” and most people do, but showing it is another matter. What most people mean is “I love you so long as you meet my expectations”. Unlike God’s love for us, we tend to “love” people conditionally. We claim we love them, but as soon as they fail to meet our demands or live up to our standards we withdraw our “love”. That isn’t love! That isn’t even honest. Rom. 12:9 says, “Let love be without dissimulation..”, and 1 Pet. 1:22 says, “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:”. Think about it! –HDS
