Longing for Relationship and Connection

It’s one thing to say you love Jesus, but it’s another thing for people to see that you love Jesus. Have you ever interacted with someone and wondered if they were a Christian because of the way they loved the people around them, to then later find out that your suspicion was correct? If you truly love Jesus, you shouldn’t have to say it for people to know you are a Christian. Did you know that the term “Christian” translates to “little Christ”? So, when Jesus says, “Whoever has my commands. . .” (John 14:21), the term “Christian” is the perfect way to describe it. Our lives should be an echo of Christ’s life. We should be a bunch of “little Christs” walking around and loving people one at a time. It’s not that our love for people makes us acceptable in Christ’s eyes, but that our love for people is evidence of whom we love. If we say we love Christ, but we have no love for his people, then the love of Christ cannot be in us. But if we love people like Jesus did, then it’s obvious that we love Christ.  The disciple John grabbed ahold of these lessons that Christ was teaching, because 1 John echoes much of what Jesus was teaching his disciples in these last moments of his life. First John 2:3-6 says, “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, the love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (NIV). If we say we love Jesus, our lives should be the proof. Reflection/Discussion Question: If you say you love Jesus, does your life back up your words?

Sometimes we can get in the bad habit of viewing the church as something that is for us, instead of viewing it as something that we are for. We live as if the church exists to meet our needs instead of us being the church to meet the needs of others.  We can hop from church to church to decide what style of preaching feeds us without ever investing our lives in the mission of the church. We identify with denominations, different theology, political ideologies, and well-known Christians more than we do with Christ himself. Our churches are filled with consumers who are sitting comfortably in their chairs, viewing the church as an “a la carte” menu where we can pick and choose what serves us, without investing our lives in the Body of Christ. This is not how God calls us to live. Jesus wasn’t crucified so that we could dress up on Sunday, sit in our comfortable seats, judge the sermon, and then go out to brunch. He didn’t raise to life so that we would live a comfortable and convenient life. Jesus died and broke the grave so that we would come together as the church, passionate about and committed to the mission of growing the Kingdom of God.  God gave us each a specific role in the Body of Christ to accomplish his mission of advancing his Kingdom. If we forsake our role in the mission for the sake of comfort, the entire Body of Christ suffers. No one else was made to do your role in the Body of Christ, so your work will be left undone. But when we commit to be the church and join Jesus in his mission of making disciples of all nations, we will find that a committed life is exactly the adventure we were made for. Reflection/Discussion Question: In what ways do you find yourself choosing comfort over commitment as you follow Christ?