READ: 1 JOHN 2:3-11
Apart from rejecting
God’s commandments or refusing to obey God’s Word, there are other ways
believers unknowingly demonstrate hatred for the Master. Mark 7:13 says, “Making
the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which you have
delivered; and many such like things do you.” If you violate God’s law
in your conduct to the point that others look down on God, it’s an evidence of
your hatred towards the kingdom. If you love Jesus, you will not want to
misrepresent Him. If you love Jesus, you
will not live like the devil. Today, many unbelievers are accepting the acts of
compromise, injustice, and unwholesome behaviour of Christians as the rule
spelt out by the Lord. Why? It is because believers are the Bible the
unbelievers are reading. As people read your life, speech, actions, silence,
dressing, likes and dislikes, are they shown the path to the cross or the path
from the cross?
According to 1 John 3:13-16, the only assurance we have that we have been transformed from death to life is the fact that we love fellow believers. If you hate your fellow believers then you hate Christ and therefore have no eternal life. If you cannot forgive your brother, you are not even a child of God. Your fresh sins will be recorded and held against you. Should you die in that state, those sins will sentence you to hell.
If you speak against the servants of God, or dress seductively to cause the fall of a minister or fellow believer, you hate Christ. If you forsake Jesus for the blessings He has given you, it is an evidence of hatred for the Master. In any case, those blessings should endear you to Him more than ever before. If you obey Him grudgingly, for instance tithing or giving with complaints or out of compulsion, you hate Him. If you love Him, everything you give to Him will be out of a cheerful heart, full of praise to Him. If you deny the flock in your care adequate spiritual nourishment, it’s an evidence of your hatred for Christ (John 21:15-17). If you have caused fellow believers to backslide, it shows you hate Him. If you don’t care whether the needs in His house are met or not and refuse to be instrumental in meeting such needs, do not deceive yourself; you hate Him. In every way you have demonstrated hatred for Jesus, repent and ask God for grace to start loving Him from today. Those who hate Jesus have no eternity with Him.
According to 1 John 3:13-16, the only assurance we have that we have been transformed from death to life is the fact that we love fellow believers. If you hate your fellow believers then you hate Christ and therefore have no eternal life. If you cannot forgive your brother, you are not even a child of God. Your fresh sins will be recorded and held against you. Should you die in that state, those sins will sentence you to hell.
If you speak against the servants of God, or dress seductively to cause the fall of a minister or fellow believer, you hate Christ. If you forsake Jesus for the blessings He has given you, it is an evidence of hatred for the Master. In any case, those blessings should endear you to Him more than ever before. If you obey Him grudgingly, for instance tithing or giving with complaints or out of compulsion, you hate Him. If you love Him, everything you give to Him will be out of a cheerful heart, full of praise to Him. If you deny the flock in your care adequate spiritual nourishment, it’s an evidence of your hatred for Christ (John 21:15-17). If you have caused fellow believers to backslide, it shows you hate Him. If you don’t care whether the needs in His house are met or not and refuse to be instrumental in meeting such needs, do not deceive yourself; you hate Him. In every way you have demonstrated hatred for Jesus, repent and ask God for grace to start loving Him from today. Those who hate Jesus have no eternity with Him.
MEMORIZE: 1
JOHN 2:6 –He that says he abides in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as
He walked.
