Like One Another
Scripture: 1 John 2:9-11 (ESV)
9Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Devotion:
How many times have you heard the expression Love One Another? Probably more than you can count. We use the phrase so much I am afraid that at least some of its core meaning has been lost. That’s why I want to explore liking one another just to see what we may be missing out on with all this “love talk”.
John in this letter I think gets right to the root of the problem. I have heard Christians say that I love “person x” in the lord but I really hate the way he thinks about (name your church issue). Thus my problem with Love as we use it like this is that it becomes so shallow as to be meaningless. As Jesus says in his sermon on the mount Chapter 6:21-22:
"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' 22But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.(ESV)
Jesus did not have in mind, and neither did the author of 1 John, the kind of love that would actually allow hatred to fester in a person’s heart. But what about liking someone? What if we actually looked for traits in one another that draw us together the common interests (sports teams, TV shows, whatever) that make us want to bond with that person? What if just saying “hi, how are you” as you stand in line for coffee in the fellowship time after service was not enough? If we were serious and intentional about building friendships we would do more than this. Friendships can be based not only on our common interests, but on our friendship with Christ as Christ says in John 15:15:
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
I believe it is a simple fact of human nature that we enjoy spending time with those we like. Liking each other can (like love) take hard work. However, the friendships built can be well worth the trouble. A church built on mutual friendships will be a place others will want to be. Not too many people come because of doctrinal purity or theological correctness. People may be attracted (especially in this day and age) by the superficial aspects such as great music, great preaching (with apologies to my preacher and seminarian friends). I believe they will stay because of friendships formed either at church or in the world, inviting our friends to church is still a great way to grow the body of Christ.
It is no secret that there are great divisions in our churches today. Some say love the sinner, but hate the sin, but I say to you like the sinner and be their friend and still hate the sin. It would take honesty and vulnerability to have that kind of relationship, but I think that is what Christ is calling us to. Jesus called the disciples, and by extension us, his friends. Sure he loved us as only God can, but he also, liked us, and as humans we can like one another.
Of course life is more complicated than this. There are some people that no matter how hard we try the liking thing just does not seem to work. They irritate us, annoy us, and make us feel downright miserable. What do we do? First we look to Jesus who gave us the seemingly impossible to command to love our enemies (Matthew 5:24). Liking our enemies may even be harder, but we need to make every effort to do so and rely on the abundance of God’s grace when we fail, as we will. In the end I believe it will be worth the effort.
So I give you a new suggestion to ponder: Like your neighbor as Christ likes you. The real benefit of this liking each other, maybe, just maybe, if we work on really liking each other we may just end up loving them. The command to Love one another might get a whole lot easier. To use the colloquialism ‘I’m just sayin’ . . .
Prayer:
Help us to like each other more. May we learn to give you praise in a spirit of true love. Have the Holy Spirit guide us into true friendships with each other and with you. Forgive us when we fail, help us up when we fall. May we rest secure in the promise that you are our friend. Amen
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