KEEP IT SIMPLE - LOVE

“Whoever loves his brother abides in light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling… Little children let us love not in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.”  - I John 2:10, 3:18

I have to admit that for much of my Christian life I’ve struggled with John’s writings. His letters especially just seem to monotonously hold to one theme – love. Okay, love one another. I get it! Or do I?

As a young man, John must have been a real character. Jesus called him and his brother James “sons of thunder”. (Mark 3:17) They wanted to call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan village that failed to receive Christ. (Luke 9:51-55)

John wrote his three letters (First, Second, and Third John) late in life when he was likely in his 70’s or 80’s. What changed him from a “son of thunder” to the apostle of love? I think it was decades of life in Christ- all of church life – the good, the bad and the ugly. Early on, he was in Jerusalem at Pentecost and experienced the powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit, conversion of 100’s, miracles of healing, and even the dead being raised back to life.

As the years passed, he witnessed the enemy’s attacks on the church.
From the outside came persecutions, torture, and martyrdom. From within the church came false doctrine – leaders drawing Christians after themselves with twisted versions of the gospel.

How could the church keep on track? How could tiny gatherings, scattered across the Roman Empire, resist the enemy’s attack? Much of the New Testament was written, but it was not compiled into the Bibles we hold in our hands today. So John in his short letters gave the believers a simple test. How can we tell who is of Christ and who isn’t? Love. Genuine love, the kind that led Jesus to the cross, is the test of a true believer. Don’t be led astray by Charisma. Don’t trust someone’s new and better gospel. Don’t trust those who appeal to the flesh. Trust those who love – not in word, but in deed and in truth. This love kind of comes only from Jesus. Those who love like Jesus loved us are the true followers of Christ.

Keep it simple – thrust love.