“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.“
This passage is ignored by “good Christians” every day. But before rebuking them let’s look in the mirror. Do I preach the gospel yet spew venom about my opposition. Do I attack evil, or the people it controls? We need to understand that God is not saying that if you claim to love Him, and hate your brother, you are confused... He is saying you’re a liar. If I told you I love you, but hate your kids, you’d say the same to me.
So, since we can’t argue. We minimize who qualifies as a brother or sister… We are not the first to use this strategy. In Luke 10:29 a question was asked about whom we must love, which prompted Jesus to tell the parable of the Good Samaritan. In this parable Jesus “flipped the script” and instead of someone needing to qualify as my neighbor, He put the onus on me. I am responsible for being someone’s neighbor, not determining if they qualify, to be mine.
There are other places in scripture where it clearly states - that loving your brothers, your neighbors, and even your enemies is a necessity when loving God.
There is a need for deep theology, and it is crucial that we understand God’s law and plan for salvation. But no matter how educated you are, you have nothing of significance to share about God if you hate His children. If you don’t love your brother, then you don’t love their Father, and you are an imposter at family gatherings… They will know us by our love.
So don’t waste people’s time by preaching at them if you don’t love them. Your words will be gutted of power, and you will become “a clanging cymbal”. This verse means you must love other cultures, denominations, and ethnicities… and (brace yourself) those with other political opinions. You don’t have to agree with them, but you can’t hate them.
We need to stop pretending we don’t understand this verse and make a choice. Start really loving others and start thinking of them as more important than ourselves… or quit talking. Because if we say we love God without loving them – we’re just liars.
“Don't Tell Them Jesus Loves Them, until you're ready to love them too.”
- Steve Camp
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