Loving Other Believers

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them. (1 John 2:9-11)

I have heard it said many times, “I'll never go back to that church, as long as she's there. As long as he is doing this or that, I'll never go back there.” Anyone who would say something like that has forgotten what it means to be forgiven. They have misplaced how God will continue to do a work in the lives of other people.

You are not a finished product. I am definitely not a finished product. I'm still in process, aren't you? For this reason, there needs to be love for fellow believers. You need to learn how to cut each other some slack. Live in fellowship; realize that you are still in process, and they are still in process.

I learned a long time ago that if I had only friends who agree with me, I would only have a handful of friends. That is the truth. In fact, if you had to be married to someone who always agreed with you, you would never be married.  God knows how to bring people who are different together.

You need to trust Him to work out the body of Christ, the makeup of the body of Christ. He will put people together who don't think alike, don’t act alike, and don’t process the same way. God is using them in the midst of the body to accomplish what He wants in His perfect timing. Therefore, you need to love other believers.

This is not a denominational thing. You need to love Roman Catholics as much as you love Pentecostals. You need to love Baptists as much as you love Methodists. You are not loving denominationalism; you are loving what God has done in the life of someone who has turned from sin and placed their faith in Christ. That tag of denominationalism will either wear off in heaven or burn off in hell! We will simply belong to Jesus. Period! You and I need to love other believers.