LOVE MUST BE THE CENTRE OF OUR CONDUCTS

The moment we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and personal saviour, we are open to God’s kind of life called ZOE i.e. life of love and faith which was kick-started by the life of Jesus Christ, through His death, resurrection and ascension into glory divine. Since we have come to this saving grace, Love life calls for conscious pressing to live by faith in the Son of God who is the perfect expression of the Father’s love to humanity at large. The love life is the life of God for man to have undeniable victory over sin and death see John 10:10b. In that, the good Lord has tasted death once for all; that all who will come to His saving grace will be an embodiment of His love.

The testament life of love is the kingdom of God in expression by the Holy Ghost in us. 2 Corinthians 5:16 says: Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh (carnal knowledge). Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. In other word, those who are in Christ are known by love knowledge (life of God). More so, the acceptance of Christ is a precursor for the God’s kind of life to find expression. When this mind is in us, that whosoever is in Christ potentially carries the God’s kind of life, then we will relate to each other in the hope of the God’s own life not in the life (pre-conversion state) we have known before about our brethren. I believe this will also settle many unnecessary misunderstanding and there will not be place for prejudice.

The mindset of finding fault in the fellow saint is still a subset of the activity of the flesh. Even our habitual or characteristic of mental attitude that determines how we will interpret and respond to situations must also see the brethren as the people carrying God’s life, only the heart full of love can see to this end. People with critical and sceptical mind only deny themselves of fellowship with other brethren. The yardstick for relationship in the body is Christ not men’s tradition of belief. The litmus test for relationship is God’s life (LOVE) according to His word see 2 Cor.3:6.

As a body of Christ, we must allow the Holy Spirit to overcomes our proclivity to self-centeredness, independence, and self-serving. The Holy Spirit draws us together with other believers and creates the miracle of oneness Jesus prayed for in John 17. The premise for our relationship in the Lord’s congregation is love. Unity in Christ also means setting aside secondary issues like denominational differences or cultural patterns. Agreement on basics is important but, the most important of all is our mutual sharing in the manifold grace of God which is also premised on God’s love.