The Mark of the Believer

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     John 13:34-35 says, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another”

     Francis Shaeffer wrote a book titled, “The Mark of the Christian.”  In the book, he used as a theme verse John 17:21 which says, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”  People during different ages have come to use certain symbols as a proof for their faith such as crosses around the neck or carrying a Bible, or the ever popular bumper sticker that says, “Honk if you love Jesus.”   I wanted to have a symbol on my door here at the assisted living facility and so purchased a cross only to have it taken off my door three times.  I gave it away to the one who took it off my door and she lost it to another lady and now it hangs on her door.  Then, I purchased a second cross and had it on my door with both the cord and velcro so they couldn’t get it off.  Well, now, it is gone also so whatever I put on my door is probably going to be taken by someone who takes a fancy to it.

     It isn’t the cross on the door that makes a notation of who I am but rather how I function with fellow believers in the world today.  When we left Christiansburg, Virginia in 1983, there were over 40 different churches in Montgomery County and  twenty of those churches were preaching the Gospel message but had split off from another one over some small issue that didn’t please a certain group so they went off to begin their own church where the temperature, pew color, length of sermon, style of music would be compatible to that group.  In John 17:21, Jesus emphasizes that it is important that believers be in unity. They needed to be seen as a single body, agreeing on major doctrines and tolerating the various moods of each other.  During one of the teaching sections of the Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples, the passage above was given as a new commandment that believers love one another as evidence that they were disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Believers sometimes miss the mark in this and need to be reminded how it is done.  When we forget just how to love one another, the Lord reminds us of the example of how to do it.  We do it as Christ loved us. He said, “as I have loved you.”  I am sure that I am hard to love by many as I also find it hard to love everyone as I should, but we keep on endeavoring to love one another just as the Lord Jesus Christ loved us.  Praise God today for His perfect example for us to follow.