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. For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. – I John 3:10-11
“I no longer listen to what people say” wrote Winston Churchill, “I just watch what they do. Behavior never lies.”
“Don’t listen to what people say” writes Doris Gottlieb, “Watch where their feet are going.”
“Don’t listen to what they say…watch what they do!” says Rachel Maddow regularly on her TV show.
We are in an era of instant and constant communications, where social media makes room for everyone’s thoughts and dozens of forms of media create space for persons of all types to opine. Unless one precipitously and intentionally uses the OFF button on their phones, computers, televisions, streaming services, podcasts, and satellite radios, we are inundated with the thoughts and ideas of thousands of voices.
Ironically, you’re listening to or reading another one of those voices right now.
Long before mass communication, when ideas and thoughts were readily shared by masses of people, the apostle John knew something that would serve us well now. You can tell the difference between those who mean you well and those who mean you harm. You can discern who is a “child of God” and who is a “child of the devil” by a simple means. Watch what they do. If what they do reflects love, they are a child of God.
John goes on to say in verse 16 - This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
This is our calling as the children of God. This is our urgent mission as the family known as Cathedral of Hope. Our calling is to reflect love. Our mission is to lay down or lives for others. It’s to love the unlovable, perhaps even those who would do us harm or to deny us as loving children of God. Our purpose is to do speak the words AND to do the actions.
An unbelieving world, overwhelmed with messages of hate and fear, is watching us feed the hungry, lift up those excluded, educate children, and sing for joy. They’re watching us lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. And they know that we are Christians by our love.
Let us pray
Loving God, I pray that I would be a worthy ambassador for Christ, reflecting His love and truth to all I meet. May I rest in Your love, walk in the truth of Your Word, and finish the work You have for me on the earth before You call me home. In Jesus' name, AMEN.
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