Love One Another

| Sermon Thought by PKD Lee |

John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Reconciliation with God through the sacrifice of Jesus has been the central core of the Christian faith, and this has dominated Christian thinking and life.

But there is another reconciliation that the Bible speaks of which is either forgotten about or intentionally ignored. That is reconciliation between us and our Christian brethren.

While forgiving, accepting people, and loving them when they are not believers in Jesus and the children of God is also called for in the Bible, often reconciliation is not possible as they are unwilling to accept us. But, not being reconciled to a child of God shows a serious spiritual issue in our own life.

1 John 3:10-11 reads as, “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another”

While we may not be faulted if the other party does not want reconciliation, I need to make the effort and ensure that there is no negative feelings from my side. I need to take ownership of the situation and see how we can re-establish a love relationship with a fellow brother or sister in Christ.

The first step for me is to take responsibility for the situation and apologize. The rupture has occurred because of something I have said or done, which by itself may not be wrong, or may even be right, but has led to a misunderstanding as I should have prepared the ground for my action.

Once blaming the other person is taken out of the equation, reconciliation is much easier. Reconciliation is almost impossible if I feel that the other person is responsible for the situation, as my approach to the other person tends to be condescending rather than accepting.

Is this important for our spiritual lives? Well, John says it is important for your salvation, let alone your spiritual life. It needs to be dealt with and cannot be swept under the carpet.

Are you at peace with all in your church?