"Let Us" series continued:

"Let us obey the Truth through the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren". Our love must be sincere, not fake, like a politician's or an actor's (the root word of "hypocrite" is "actor"). When we see a need, and we can meet that need, love compels us to do so. The only exception being if God tells us not to. I just saw a story about Houston TX. The story related how that before, during and after a hurricane had struck the city, with many made homeless, in need of shelter, a mega-church in the city shut their doors and the wealthy pastors sat in their ten million dollar mansion and offered prayers. Now, these pastors may be offering money privately to help with the relief efforts but what they do publicly is what the public sees - and what the public sees is yet another Christian church preaching the gospel of love but not being very loving, not being "doers" when the opportunity arises. We cannot claim to be followers of Christ and yet not do what He would do, any longer. People look to us - like it or not, because they can't see Him. We are the only witnesses of Christ many people will ever see. They look at how we treat each other, expecting to see a higher standard than the world's, yet I've been better treated sometimes by lost people in the world than by my brethren in Christ. It's disheartening to meet anyone calling themselves a Christian, then find out they aren't followers of Christ at all, only followers of the religion Satan's invented in Jesus' name. We must attend to our own hearts, we must ensure we love with a sincere, pure love - no hidden motives or agendas, no strange fire. We must love without hesitation and without expecting to be loved in return. If this scripture is warning us about faking our love it must mean that that is a real problem. We know, because Jesus told us, that there are plenty of tares among the wheat, loving us with a fake, insincere love, who will turn and rend our hearts at the slightest provocation, who seek to wound us, often behind our backs, while pretending to love us to our faces - of such, turn away. Never thought of this before, but we could also call "tares", "tears" because they cause tears and tears....as in crying.

"Let us be courteous, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing". Let's not only be polite to each other but to all we meet, especially those who serve us....waiters and waitresses, sales clerks and taxi drivers, homeless poor and rich alike - let's be kind and respectful to them all. Do not treat the pastor any differently than you do the lowest, most insignificant person in the church (for truly, no one is insignificant in Christ, but all are incredibly special and rare). Do not treat the stranger, who walks in your doors for the first time, any different than you do the most elder member of your congregation. It's not easy to return love for evil done against us - we must constantly remind ourselves that this is what God does for us our entire lives - especially to those of us who met Him as adults. We sinned against Him often, yet He kept His cool, kept His heart open to us, kept loving us in return for our evil. We must do the same for people who do evil against us, believing one day they'll become our friends. I've heard many stories of people who have forgiven tremendous grievances, only to see the one forgiven come to Christ, for truly the encountered Christ in the one who forgave them, like the mother who forgave the drunk driver who killed her son. I ask you, is a soul worth it? Is a soul worth your forgiveness? If the son who died was a Christian and his death led to a man's salvation, was it worth it? Not returning railing for railing is also not easy, especially when people are falsely accusing you, but like Jesus at his trial, we should remain silent and not attempt to defend ourselves. And remember, "a soft answer turns away wrath", it's difficult to remain angry with someone who does not return anger for anger, hate for hate. You snuff out their hate with your love.....