The Church of Jesus has taken some hits over the past few years, and some of those hits are deserved. When the Church lives in ways that do not reflect the life of Jesus, we come across to people as hypocrites and phonies. When our attitudes and words don’t reflect the heart and mind of Jesus, we can’t blame folks for not respecting us.

In Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus gives us what is referred to as the great commandment: “You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind…You shall love Your neighbor as yourself.” This about sums it up, doesn’t it? In John 13:35 He drives it further home when He says to His disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

We live in a distracted and preoccupied world. How can we possibly attract people to Jesus when they don’t care about Him at all? Volumes have been written in answer to that question, but in the end we don’t need books; we need for our lives to be so saturated with the love of Jesus that it flows in everything we do. People are watching our lives just as we are watching the lives of others. What do that see when they see us? What image do we leave with them?

May God help us to live lives of love, real love, Jesus’ kind of love; Sacrificial self-giving love; Love that reflects the forgiving and restoring love of God.

Here is a good word: LOVE ONE ANOTHER!