Once, I received a letter asking for help with getting rid of bitterness. The correspondent was so bitter that he admitted he could not do the will of God. However, there was a great contradiction in his letter. He said that he believed in and loved Jesus. I am sure he thought he did, but he did not love Jesus by Jesus’ definition. He said that he could not do the will of God. If he loved Jesus, he would have obeyed Him:
“If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15).
“Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me’” (John 14:23-24).
If he loved God, he would also love his brother:
“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:20-21).
This man did not love God. He did not obey God, and he did not love his brother.
*Excerpted from Being Christian. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.
