how do we love each other?

"attitude check - everybody's got x-ray vision
spot a fake, walk away
'cause he's not worth my time, precious attention

does it make you scared to think you stand for something bigger?
but will i ever know 'til you say it with your life?

how they love each other
how they shine
and they follow One
we would like to know ourselves

not your fancy talk, not your upright walk
they're not enough, so chalk one up for love again
here's the same old good news
when you love, you give
and you can never lose, no never

does it make you scared to think you matter in the bigger picture?
but will i ever know 'til you show me with your life?

make a believer
make a believer out of me
just give me a reason
give me a reason..."

~ "how they love each other".. by downhere

John 13:34-35 says that people are going to recognize us as followers of Christ because of our love for each other. Are we loving each other? Sure, we all like to think we are.. but are we really loving each other enough so that others will pick up on that love and know we are followers of Jesus because of it??

I have mentioned before a guy I work with who grew up in the Methodist church and then decided to become wiccan.. I have another friend who, just the other day, said something very similar. She grew up Catholic and was pretty much forced to be Catholic, making her absolutely hate it. She considers herself an agnostic/athiest (I'm not completely sure which..) now.

The hypocrisy of the church -- as a whole -- is killing our world. It turns people off, and honestly, I cannot say that I blame anybody who is turned off by it. It is just sickening.. it is so sad.. We're pushing away the people our love is supposed to draw in.

When you go out in the world and say "hey, I'm a Christian," people do not see that as a good thing. They see it as a label that we give ourselves, and they immediately think we're a hypocrite. Why? Because so many "Christians" are hypocrites. When I started at my college, I decided I was going to try an experiment.. I decided I was not going to come right out and tell people that I'm a Christian. Not out of shame, because I am not ashamed of my faith. "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes..." (Romans 1:16a) I decided on this experiment because I wanted to be able to show people who I really was. I did not want to be stereotyped and have a reputation before I had the chance to make a testimony for myself.

I have found that.. even without going and telling people that I am a "Christian," other believers and I tend to recognize each other. It is there in the way we talk -- or in the way we don't talk -- and in praying before our meals, it is in the genuine interest in people and what they are going through, it is in the way we dress and act... See, true Christians are going to live it. The fake ones are not.

"You can say what you like, but you are going to live what you really believe."
~ Mark Hall, Casting Crowns (I know.. I've quoted him on that before.. it's appropriate though; it just fits.)

There is nothing wrong with being called a Christian - so long as you live what you claim. I tend to like to say I am a follower of Christ. :) It catches people off guard and makes them ask questions. I've had people at school ~ even people who are not believers themselves ~ ask me very bluntly, "Are you a Christian?" Yes, I am. I love Jesus, I am His child, I belong to Him.

It is so ridiculous how, as the church, we are not doing our job. We are called to love others.. not to accept or agree with sin, but to love the people. Yet here we are pushing people away.. judging, shunning, ignoring the very ones we should be reaching out to and inviting in. We are the ones who are tearing up our generation, pushing them out of the church.

It is our job to love, and to make sure our speech and our actions line up with each other. We have a responsibility to do this.. we need to reach out in love. We are called to be real Christians.. followers of Christ. Not just somebody who calls themselves a "Christian" and might even go to church but then does not live it out.