Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

• John 13:34-35

This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. …
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

• 1 John 3:10, 18

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. …
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. …
And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

• 1 John 4:7-8, 11-13, 21

So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

• Galatians 3:6

“ ‘Thirdly, we must accustom the people to believe that mere knowledge is by no means sufficient for true Christianity — which is much more a matter of behaviour. In particular, our dear Saviour often designated love as the true hallmark of his disciples -John 13.34-35; l5.l2; I John 3.l0, 18;4.7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 21. Similarly, the beloved John in his old age (according to Jerome in his commentary on Galatians 3.6) was in the habit of saying little else to his disciples other than ‘Little children, love one another’. Eventually they became so fed up with always hearing the same thing that they asked him why he constantly repeated it He replied. “Because it is the Lord’s command and if it comes to pass, that suffices.” Certainly, for one who believes and through faith is blessed, his whole life and fulfilment of God’s commands consists in love.’ (Holy Desires 3.3).”

• Tony Lane, A Concise History of Christian Thought

Philipp Jakob Spener, (1635-1705), was born in Alsace, present day France along the Rhein River, not far from where my family and I lived for three years.  He rose quickly in the Lutheran church and lamented what was left undone by Luther’s reformation.  He was the senior pastor of the church at Frankfurt am Main, a city of about 15,000 at the time (over 750,000 today), and he had several other clergy under him including some twice his age.  The quote above is from one of his two major works.

I agree with Rev. Spener in that if we could live that one command, all of us, the world would be a drastically different place.  And yet, the secular world, having confiscated the keys to the vault containing the dictionary, has changed “love” to mean a variety of things that the Christian church would be appalled to admit exists.  I recently heard someone quote “Love others as you love yourself” and then they lamented how few of us love ourselves anymore.

I tried to get a complex concept across to my now nine-year-old grandson.  He is horrifically extroverted – that is strongly extroverted and absolutely no filter – in other words, if a little of me is wonderful, a lot of me should be irresistible.  His older sister, of about two and a half years, is profoundly introverted.  She loves doing introverted things like painting (watercolors, oils, sketch pencils, pastels, etc.).  The concept of loving the other the way you love yourself (behaviorally) simply does not work.

Of course, one would hope that once these two become old enough to resolve their differences in a more mature manner, they might understand each other’s manner of love.

And lately, I have been seeing an advertisement that includes a photograph of a protestor that says, “God Hates You.”  That distresses me.  God loves me, but I recognize that there is sin in my life, and I need to repent of that sin.  That sin does not define me, but a lot of people find definition in their jobs, in their economic status, and in the choices that they make, including the sinful choices.  Thus, to discuss “love” with them when they think God hates them is a tricky subject at best.

But Jerome prayed for us to love one another in his time, and we do not.  Rev. Spener did the same.

But I only have a slight bone to pick with Rev. Spener’s argument.  Knowledge of Jesus and His teachings do not save us.  But neither does “loving” our neighbor.  As mentioned here, “love” could be defined in many ways.  There are many people in the pews that do not have a saving knowledge of Jesus, yet they attend church, and they may even tithe and give offerings above that tithe.  It is not knowledge or behavior, but a saving relationship with Jesus.  The behavior springs forth from that relationship in the form of the fruits of the Spirit.  Which is why I call it only a slight bone to pick.

But, with this particular behavior, to love with Christian love, we would make this world a better place.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.