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Loving God

Recently I received a letter asking for help with getting rid of bitterness. The correspondent was so bitter that he admitted that he could not do the will of God. I answered the letter with the help he needed and wanted. However, there was something else in the letter that was a contradiction. He said that he believed in and loved Jesus. I am sure he thought so, but he did not love Jesus by Jesus’ definition.

If you love me, you will obey what I command. (John 14:15 NIV)

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 NIV)

If he loved Jesus he would have obeyed Jesus. He said that he could not do the will of God.

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 NIV)

If he loved God he would love his brother. But he is bitter! He does not love God for two reasons:

1. He does not obey God.
2. He does not love his brother.

We should spend more time singing “Jesus Loves Me” and less time singing “O How I Love Jesus.”

Let us think, talk, sing and act biblically.

(An excerpt from On Being a Christian by Jim Wilson)

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