A song that has been playing in the back of my head recently has been the old Sunday school song that goes, “You know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes you know we are Christians by our love.”
It’s sad because unfortunately, I’m not sure that this song would apply to many Christians in this day and age. We see the backbone of Christianity – love – being placed on the backburner and being replaced with judgement, the taking of sides, condemnation, turning backs on people that need help, threats of violence, and fear and guilt mongering. There is a very popular phrase swirling around in the world today that says, “there is no hate, quite like Christian love.” As a Christian, this absolutely breaks my heart because it shows just how much Christianity has seemingly deviated away from Christ’s teaching and strayed away from what we, as Christians are called to do and be. In Matthew 22, we are told what the “greatest commandment” is, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and the second most important is to love your neighbor as yourself. You can’t truly love your neighbor if you are condemning them.
Am I saying that this is all Christians? Absolutely not. However, I truly believe it is something that needs to be addressed. We need to combat this with true and actual love. We must show we are Christians by our love. We must show our love to everyone, not just certain ones. We must show we are Christians by our love, not our judgement. As true followers of Christ, we are charged with loving one another and spreading the good news of Christ. Period. We are charged with going out in the world and letting people know we are Christians by our love.
- Submitted by Michaela T.
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