I was recently reading Galatians as part of my daily Bible reading, and it brought to mind one of the songs from my childhood: They’ll Know We Are Christians. I’m confident that everyone who went to a youth group in the late 60’s or 70’s instantly has the song playing in their heads. It was right up there with Everything to Me, Pass It On, and I Wish We’d All Been Ready in popularity. Younger people might want to check out the covers by Jars of Clay or For King and Country. Although the music was very much of its time, a part of me would like to see a song like that become popular again, because it had a message the church needs reminding of regularly.

You see, the song was inspired by John 13:35, where Jesus says, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (ESV).

Love for who? I know I’m supposed to love my enemies. I know I’m supposed to love the lost and share the gospel with them. I know I’m supposed to minister to the poor and needy. And, of course, husbands are supposed to love their wives.

Too often, we miss this crucial bit. John 13:34 is even stronger: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (ESV). We’re not just supposed to love our fellow Christians; we’re supposed to love them the way Christ loved us.

Too often, we just don’t, do we? Instead, we fight to get our way in the church, whether it’s a matter of having support for the ministry we want, disagreements about music style, or even just fighting over the color of the carpet. We gossip about each other. Sometimes it’s the straightforward, “Did you hear about . . . ” version. More often, we cloak our gossip in apparent piety with overly detailed prayer requests: “Please pray for the Whites. They are are going through a hard time with their daughter . . . .” If the prayer request includes sordid details, it’s much more loving and pious to stop at the first period. God knows the details of the need, and the whole church doesn’t need to know. Yes, specific prayer is good, but we really don’t need to know everything about everybody.

This failure to love and care for our fellow Christians is sometimes a monetary one as well. While many churches do have “benevolence funds” intended to help members in need, they tend to be limited. And it’s often easier to get people to give money for missions if the money isn’t “just” going to support the missionaries.

Is it any wonder that the world doesn’t associate Christianity with love? Perhaps we all need to work on putting these verses from Galatians into more consistent practice.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:9-10  (ESV)

Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash