A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.   John 13:34-35 ESV

Have you ever asked a woman when her baby is due only to find out that she is not expecting? Or perhaps you failed to ask a woman about her pregnancy because you had no idea she was six months pregnant. There is an old saying that you can’t be a little pregnant, either you are or you aren’t. And I would venture to say in most cases you can definitely tell when a woman is expecting.

But sometimes people are like that with their Christianity as well. Some people go to church and profess to be Christians and say they love the Lord and then they do things that seem to contradict that.  They give the outward appearance of being Christians, but you find that deep down inside the devil’s got a hold on them. What looks like Christianity is just a bunch of filler that they have placed around themselves to give that appearance of being a Christian.

The problem is that some people go to church and do the things that good, Christian people do, but they try to keep that foot in the world. They get saved, but as my pastor often says, what did they get saved from? They still drink, they still cuss, they are still mean to others, they still do all the things they did before they got saved. Then you must truly question if they were saved or they just went up and got baptized and maybe joined the church because they thought it was the right thing to do.

Now some of you will read this and think that I am justifying not going to church. Some of you are saying, “Yep, I told you only hypocrites go to church”. Well, my former pastor used to say there is always room for one more.  I’ll let you take some time to figure that one out.  Some of you say on a regular basis, “Going to church isn’t going to get me to heaven. I don’t need to worry about that.” Well, I refer you back to yesterday’s blog, those things that get in the way of our going to church can be considered idols, but as I said, that’s a whole different blog. If you love the Lord with all your heart, you want to be in His house and worship and praise him, just sayin’.  We use all kinds of excuses to justify any non-Christian behavior that we may exhibit. Keep practicing, because you are going to have to stand before the Great White Throne of Judgement one day and explain why you did or didn’t do certain things. Let me know how that works out for you.

So, if you are a Christian, can I tell that you are? If I spoke with you for a few minutes would it be obvious to me? How do you tell if someone else is a Christian? Well, our scripture passage says you can tell by their love. It pains me to type this, because I must stop right here and admit that there are people in my life that I struggle to love.  I struggle to be kind to them and show them God’s love. But our scripture tells me that if I am going to be a Christian and I want others to know it that they will know it by how I love those around me. This means how I love the good, the bad, and the ugly, not just my fellow Christians. Even if we hate the sin, we can love the sinner. So, if you profess to be a Christian, I want you to think about something.  Can those around you tell that you are a Christian? Maybe you have made some big changes, but do you exhibit the love of Christ? Do you show others what Jesus is like? Can they tell that you are a Christian, or do you just have a lot of padding around the middle? Maybe you are using the padding of church attendance and giving to charities and doing work for the church and that is wonderful if you do. But are you showing Christ’s love in your day to day dealings with others? 1 Corinthians 13 is often called the love chapter. Verse 3 says that if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. All that you do is in vain if you don’t love others.  The greatest commandment is that we love the Lord with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind (Mark 12:30). When we do this, the second commandment becomes much easier to obey, we are better equipped to love others as we love ourselves (Mark 12:31).

It’s not enough to look like a Christian and act like a Christian. When we face the day of judgement, we will have to answer for every word that comes out of our mouth. When we love, it’s reflected in our speech. When we love, it’s reflected in our actions towards others. When we love, we show others what Jesus looks like.

I leave you with two questions today. First, are you an undercover Christian, do you love the Lord, but are afraid to show it? Secondly, do you profess to be a Christian and talk the talk, but fail to walk the walk? Do you love others in the same way that Christ loves you? If you are truly a Christian, then trust me it shows. They will know we are Christians by our love.

Have a great day!