LOVE: THE DIFFERENTIATOR OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested towards us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:7-12

Many businesses apply differentiation strategies to make a product or brand stand out as a provider of unique value to customers in comparison with its competitors. They position their brand in such a way as to differentiate it from the competition and establish an image that is unique, which in turn translates to customer patronage and ultimately profit. In the good old days family name was a brand that many will defend – the days of “remember the child of whom you are”; a reminder that high moral standards must be maintained at all times to keep the brand (family name) from disrepute.

Unfortunately the only differentiator many families know today, especially in our country, for the family brand, is cash. We live in a time when many seem not to bother about how their ambitions or pursuits for cash is affecting other people around them. The desire for wealth and power has reached such an alarming rate that the love of many for one another has gone cold. But it is love that differentiates the Christian from the rest of the world and as Apostle John puts it in 1 John 4:7-8, the person that loves is born of God and knows God while the one that does not love do not know God for God is love. Love is in the DNA of the Christian and is the proof of a person that knows God.

God chose the nation of Israel as His own special people and showed them His love. He taught them to walk, healed them and led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love (Hosea 11:1-4) but their reaction to all these was rebellion and more disobedience. Rather than annihilating His chosen people like He did for the cities of Admah and Zeboiim, Sodom and Gomorrah (cf. Gen. 10:19; 14:2, 8; Deut. 29:23), He promised not to apply the full measure of His wrath or to destroy them again in the future. He would show restraint because He is God, not a man who forgets His promises, He will have compassion on them because He invested so much on these people. (Hosea 11:8-9).

God has even made a greater investment in all of us through Jesus Christ His Son who He sent to be an offering for our sins. Jesus Christ was ‘…despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him… … He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.’ (Isaiah 53:3-5) Jesus proved His love for God the Father through the extent He was ready to go to satisfy God’s love for humankind; reconciliation to Himself. He has paid the prize and all that is left is for us to keep His commands so we can abide in His love (John 15:10).

Dearly beloved, we have an example in Christ Jesus to follow; we have the apostles and the early Christian fathers and mothers as our witnesses of God’s love for us. He continues to show us love that despite our wickedness and rebellion against Him, He continues to give us room for repentance. Let us appreciate God’s love by differentiating ourselves from the rest of the world. Let us love as Christ loved us that we may truly be His children and inheritors of the Kingdom of God. Let us appreciate that all that we own comes from God for He is the one that has given us the power to get wealth (Deut. 8:18). As we go into this week and the weeks ahead let us go with the determination to add value to the lives of others by showing love. Please do have a blessed week.