Does Love Stops Here?
Jesus said in John13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples: if ye have love one for another.” And with those words, love became the standard of measure for all believers for all time. It is the deciding force that tells the world we are Christ disciples. How we treat each other and what we say to each other defines for the rest of the world if we belong to Jesus. Love stops here.
Jesus also said in the last days there will be a great falling away. That many people who started with him, would not end with him. So at what point do we see the line of separation beginning?
What if God allowed a single human being to become the polarizing force for determining if people would persist in walking out the love of God or if they would persist in allowing that love to grow cold towards each other in the name of our own opinions?
What if that single human being was Donald Trump? What if this one person was a tool that God used to determine if love would flow through you or if your perspective, regardless of which side of the fence you stand on, stopped the flow of the love of God? What if your emotional state as it relates to this single human being was the one thing that became the stop sign.
What if the love of God stopped with you?
What if the love of God stopped with you because of your opinion, your obsessive support for Trump, or your vehement bitter hatred of him? What if you were the stop sign that cut off the flow of the love of God?
What if you are the blockage in the artery of the body of Christ that prevents the blood and love from flowing to a lost and dying world?
What if that loss of love cost the church it’s unity.
What if that lost of unity cost the church revival?
What if the loss of revival cost the culture reformation?
What if the loss of reformation Delayed the return of Christ or even worse cost many the opportunity to even know Christ?
What if the emotions you felt either blinding obsessive support or vehement bitter hatred were the factor that prevented you from honoring the word, obeying God or respecting your fellow believers?
What if love stopped with you?
When love stops, unity stops. Harmony stops. Agreement stops. Power stops. Authority stops. The kingdom stops.
When these stop flowing, the church is useless. We have no purpose. We are stagnant and powerless and the enemy laughs at our inability to see beyond our own selfish perspective.
Saul was a horrible king. He was evil. He was hateful. He was murderous. He was idolatrous. But he was still king. And never once did David release hatred and bitterness toward Saul. David still honored Saul despite his flaws and failures.
We each have a decision to make as believers in Jesus Christ. We have to decide if the unity in the body is more important than our own perspective. We must decide if our own hatred is worth the price of disunity. Donald Trump is just a man. But he is a man that God has allowed to be in a position for this time. Like it or not, we have to decide will he be a stop sign to us individually? Corporately?
Does love Stop with you?
with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
Ephesians 4:2 (NKJV)
1 Thessalonians 3:12 (NKJV)
And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we [do] to you,
Hebrews 10:24 (NKJV)
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
1 Peter 4:8 (NKJV)
And above all things have fervent love for one another, for [“love will cover a multitude of sins.”]
1 John 3:23 (NKJV)
And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
1 John 4:7 (NKJV)
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:12 (NKJV)
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
2 John 1:5 (NKJV)
And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another.